WHO Denies Delaying COVID Info For Xi But UN Lied 6 Years On Taking Cholera To Haiti

By Matthew Russell Lee, PatreonBBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT

UN GATE / SDNY COURT, Jan 4 – The World Health Organization has issued a denial, which Inner City Press published minutes after issuance, that China's Xi Jinping "personally asked WHO to hold back information about human to human transmission and delayed the global response for four to six weeks" at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, sourced to German intelligence by Der Spiegel.

   Inner City Press published WHO's denial first, noting that other questions about the current UNMISS Mission in South Sudan spreading COVID-19 with its admittedly lax practices (on which it and UNSG Antonio Guterres have refused Press questions) and WHO giving Cameroon's Paul Biya 14 luxury vehicles remain unanswered.

   But there a more fundamental problem or context to UN system denials, particularly on questions of deadly diseases.

    The UN lied for SIX YEAR about having brought cholera to Haiti. In the UN briefing room in New York, Inner City Press in person asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric more than a dozen times about it, and Dujarric each time denied it, on UN video that he and Melissa Fleming now refuse to give to the Press. 

  Tellingly, even when denial became untenable, no one in the UN was ever disciplined for all the lies. Dujarric is still Guterres spokesman, now lying about COVID-19 and the UN system's role this time on Zoom since the UN has closed its headquarters other than allow Guterres' guard to continue to collectively use their gym there.

  And while for weeks now Inner City Press has sought answers from WHO, by email and raising its Zoom hand, nothing (except Tedros' lawyer about Taiwan.)

   So this UN system has no credibility, and continue to censor to try to hide its tracks. We'll have more on this.

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Exclusive: In UN COVID Scam South Sudan Demands WHO Info Amid Cash From Oil Consortium CNPC

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video SongBBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT

UN GATE / SDNY COURT, April 19 – The United Nations in South Sudan acknowledged internally that a staff member has tested positive for Coronavirus COVID-19, while claiming it is taking all precautions, see below. SG Antonio Guterres has refused to answer questions from Inner City Press about this, and about his own UN Security guards still using their gym. Video here.

  Now on April 19 after the UN brags about unspecified discipline on an unidentified staffer who broke quarantine or self isolation and flew back to his or her unidentified country, Inner City Press has exclusive obtained and now publishes the South Sudan government document showing that government demanded information about the UN violation from the World Health Organization, here.

  The document, of South Sudan's High Level Task Force, also shows them taking money ostensibly for COVID-19 from tobacco company Carnak, MTN, Atlantic Energy and Patronas which, along with China National Petroleum Company, stands accused of funding militias through Dar Petroleum Operating Company. Inner City Press will be asking Juba and WHO about this.

    But what about the South Sudan UN bus without social distancing, which was Guterres rep David Shearer's fault? What about Guterres' own guards? This is another case of Do As I Say, Not As I Do (April 18 Matthew Russell Lee song here).

 Here is the disingenuous notice which does not mention the bus, the spread and the UNHQ gym: "a staff member who failed to complete self-isolation and left South Sudan without authorization.     The staff member was in isolation after it was believed he may have come into contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19. He received one test that confirmed him as negative and then left Juba on a flight without the knowledge of the United Nations. The flight was commercial, not a United Nations flight.     Since arriving in his home country, he has been tested again and is confirmed to be negative for COVID-19.     In the interests of openness and transparency, the United Nations informed the Ministry of Health and expressed its regret about what had happened.     The United Nations is continuing to strictly follow the health protocols relating to COVID-19 and is working cooperatively through the World Health Organization with the Ministry of Health.     Any United Nations staff who fail to adhere to the requirements for testing and self-isolation will face disciplinary action."

  So when will Guterres' guards be punished? When will Guterres (and Tedros) be fired?

On April 9 Inner City Press exclusively published a notice among Guterres' UN Security, which he used to oust and ban Inner City Press, violating all New York City (and state) laws by keeping their gym open, with up to three officers using it at once. Photo here.

  What will Mayor De Blasio's pro-UN office, which took masks not offered to UN staff quarantined at home (as lax practices at UN WIPO preceded the death of a staffer there) say? Inner City Press is asking Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming. The UN, including UN Security, is corrupt.

But the transcript of a meeting with staff by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' representative in Juba, David Shearer, leaked to Inner City Press by outraged staff, shows for example that the UNMISS mission has been running busses for local staff without social distancing.

 They analogize it to when the UN brought cholera to Haiti and then lied about it for years, and has still to pay any compensation under Antonio Guterres "who instead spends the public's money on his own trips to Lisbon." Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming have refused all Press questions on this, choosing to ban critical Inner City Press and take staged questions from Xinhua.

Here's a first part of the transcript from Shearer's meeting with staff, after the misleading press release by Shearer's underling about COVID-19:

"The United Nations in South Sudan has confirmed a case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among its staff... The UN has previously imposed a travel freeze on all staff travelling into the country, ensured staff who arrived prior to the ban are self-quarantined for 14 days, introduced work-from-home measures to reduce numbers of people in offices, and enforced social distancing rules and frequent hand washing by all personnel."

This is false. From the UN Mission in South Sudan transcript leaked to Inner City Press: 

Leda Limann: SRSG, these are national staff specific. The majority of UNMISS staff have family members in Uganda. Can you please engage with Ugandan authorities?

SRSG Shearer: This is a bit tricky because for national staff, obviously, their country is here, and we expect them to work here and that is why we employ national staff because they are here. I think, what we can certainly look at what happens in the future, I am in contact with the Resident Coordinator in Uganda to see what options there are to visit family members. But it is not possible for the moment to evacuate people from South Sudan to Uganda because they are South Sudanese, that is why they are here. But we will look at the possibility of being able to access their families. At the moment, we have got no ability to be allowed into Uganda. Nobody has the possibility of entering Uganda and, likewise, coming back into South Sudan. So, we are a bit caught but let’s see what happens in the future.

    Leda Limann: National staff use the shuttle bus twice daily and the social distancing is not maintained in the bus. Is the mission taking any measures on this?

     Nope... More of the transcript is on Patreon here.

  The United Nations held a four speakers, one M.C. event to raise funds for itself off of Coronavirus on March 25.  But three of  the participants had refused to make public even the UN's bare-bones financial disclosures: Mark Lowcock, Henrietta Fore of UNICEF and Melissa Fleming.  The head man, Antonio Guterres, has lied on his form, omitting his financial links to convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy. So their credibility is questionable. 

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Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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Mugabe Out As Goodwill Ambassador of WHO, Guterres Was Silent, Echo of Biya & N Korea Cyanide

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 21 – Responding to the outrage at Robert Mugabe being named a Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has now rescindedthe appointment, here. During the controversy, the head of the UN system Antonio Guterres was notably silent. He heads the system, but is not providing leadership, at the very least not publicly. The UN often blames similar absurdities on "member states" - WHO, in this cases, responded. But unlike the UN's cover up of bringing cholera to Haiti, its cover up in Cameroon including with threats to the Press and its assistance to North Korean cyanide, this was a simple matter of dropping an outside party, not the UN's own sins. The latter, the UN has a strong aversion to, including under Guterres. Earlier this year when Inner City Press asked Guterres spokespeople  why the UN World Intellectual Property Organization provides help to North Korea for patents on cyanide, the UN refused to comment, just as it did on retaliation by Francis Gurry against whistleblowers at WIPO and other UN system agencies. Several Inner City Press readers have recently mused that perhaps Guterres will give some goodwill position to Cameroon's Paul Biya, like Mugabe a "long time President," in Biya's case for 34 years. This as the UN delivered a threat to Inner City Press to “review” it accreditation on Friday afternoon at 5 pm. The UN official who signed the letter, when Inner City Press went to ask about the undefined violation of live-streaming Periscope video at a photo op by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, had already left, minutes after sending the threat. What to make of the letter's vague statement, "filming and recording on the 38th floor are limited to official photo opportunities, and recording conversations of others in the room is not permitted. It has been brought to our attention that you breached that rule recently"? It's not only vague as to when, but absurd: once a Periscope is authorized to start streaming, it is impossible to not record someone who speaks loudly at the photo op. This comes two days after Inner City Press asked Guterres about the UN inaction on threatened genocide in Cameroon, and the UN claimed Guterres hadn't heard the 15-second long question.  Recently at a photo op, Guterres' adviser on Cameroon Khassim Diagne spoke loudly. Inner City Press later reported, based on sourcing, that Diagne who was previously the representative to Cameroon for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency Guterres ran, speaks in favor of Cameroon's government. Is this letter a response to the reporting? Is it retaliation? Is it intimidation to stop reporting on this threatened genocide? We can't ask the complainant, Maher Nasser: after the threat was delivered, he blocked Inner City Pres on Twitter, here.

  It also comes after Alison Smale the head of the Department of Public Information which would “review” Inner City Press' accreditation has ignored three separatepetitions from Inner City Press in the six weeks she has been in the job, urging her to remove restrictions on Inner City Press' reporting which hinder its coverage of the UN's performance in such crises as Yemen, Kenya,Myanmar, and the Central African Republic where Guterres travels next week, with Smale's DPI saying its coverage of the trip will be a test of its public relations ability. But the UN official who triggered the complaint is Maher Nasser, who filled in for Smale before she arrived. 

UN's Letter Threatening to Review Inner City Press' Accreditation for Audio Report While Staking Out on Cam... by Matthew Russell Lee on Scribd

His complaint is that audio of what he said to Inner City Press as it staked out the elevators in the UN lobby openly recording, as it has for example with Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe, here, was similarly published. 

A UN “Public Information” official is complaining about an article, and abusing his position to threaten to review Inner City Press' accreditation. The UN has previously been called out for targeting Inner City Press, and for having no rules or due process. But the UN is entirely UNaccountable, impunity on censorship as, bigger picture, on the cholera it brought to Haiti. And, it seems, Antonio Guterres has not reformed or reversed anything. This threat is from an official involved in the last round of retaliation who told Inner City Press on Twitter to be less "negative" about the UN - amid inaction on the mass killing in Cameroon - and who allowed pro-UN hecking of Inner City Press' questions about the cholera the UN brought to Haiti and the Ng Lap Seng /John Ashe UN bribery scandal which resulted in six guilty verdicts. We'll have more on this.

On Ebola & WHO's Failures, Chan Tells UNSC of "High Gear" Reforms, Power Questions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 13 -- Amid widespread criticism of the World Health Organization's response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, WHO's Margaret Chan on August 13 told the Security Council, "I am personally overseeing reforms in WHO that include the establishment of a global health emergency workforce, an operational platform that can shift into high gear quickly, performance benchmarks that show exactly what we mean by 'high gear,' and the funding needed to make this happen."

 But what will it come to?

 On August 13 in the Security Council, US Ambassador Samantha Power asked why and how information from the field got "lost" further up the chain. This echoes UN Peacekeeping in New York - Ladsous - ignoring and allowing rapes in the field, then letting a field commander be the scapegoat, staying on vacation. This is today's UN system.

 Back on May 9 when the UN's High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises held a press conference on May 8, Inner City Press asked the panel about criticism by Doctors Without Borders MSF and others of the UN's and World Health Organization's initial response to Ebola.Video here.

 Former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa replied about the need for clear chains of command; Brazil's Celso Amorim spoke movingly about disparities like $9 per person for health care in Liberia versus $8000 per person in some European Union countries.
 
  Inner City Press asked the High Level Panel's chair, Tanzanian President Kikwete, if he would speak about Burundi and his role there.Video here.

 Kikwete told Inner City Press to ask him about Burundi after the press conference. Inner City Press did, specifically if the EAC will be opining on if a third term would violate the Arusha Agreements or pose regional threats.

  "Be patient," was Kikwete's response, saying that the foreign ministers who visited Burundi will report back on May 13. We will cover that at that time.

  During the press conference, Kikwete dealt with aplomb when UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq called him the "former president" of Tanzania. There were a number of "formers" (and "futures") on the panel, but Kikwete is current.

   Moments after Kikwete's and the panel's press conference, the UN Security Council issued "elements to the press" which "called upon all parties to refrain from violence and to prioritize Burundi’s peace and stability through the current political dialogue and also to achieve their needs through legal and peaceful means. They stressed the need to hold a credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral process."

 Inner City Press asked the Security Council's president for May  Raimonda Murmokaite of Lithuania how the third term was discussed in the Council's closed meeting. She replied that individual members did express their views on the third term but it was not really the essence of the discussion.  We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press has asked the UN about Burundi, most recently on May 4 and 5 and now May 6, below. Now it's said the UN's Said Djinnit will belatedly brief the Security Council on May 7 - we'll be there.

  On May 6, Inner City Press asked the UN, " I don't know if you have an update on Burundi?"

  Moments later, beyond an if-asked, a statement was handed to UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, who answered Inner City Press with this:

"Regarding Burundi, after a plenary session yesterday, Burundian stakeholders continued the political dialogue.  Our Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Said Djinnit, is facilitating work in smaller committees.  The objective of the dialogue remains to seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.  Meanwhile, we welcome the arrival in Bujumbura of the foreign ministers of the East African community, and we look forward to working closely with the region on this."

  The UN is relentlessly upbeat - and marginalized. Watch this site.

 On May 4, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: On Burundi, I want to know if you have any statement on the violence in the capital in which at least two people have been killed today protesting the third-term run of the President?

Spokesman Dujurric:  Sure, we continue to follow the events in Burundi with great concern and deplore the loss of lives and injuries as well as the destruction of property that we've seen.  We reiterate our calls to all the parties to reject violence, exercise maximum restraint, and avoid using inflammatory language, as well as to take the necessary appeasement measures to create conditions for dialogue.  In this regard, the UN mission on the ground, MENUB, has been encouraging all stakeholders to seize the opportunities of the dialogue that is organized by the Ministry of Interior with the support of the UN on 5 and 6 May.  That is tomorrow and Wednesday.  And we trust that stakeholders will see and build on this dialogue as an opportunity to defuse tensions and seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.

 Later on May 4, Ban Ki-moon met with Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, but no UN read-out was issued. On May 5, Inner City Press asked for this, and about the judge who fled the country amid death threats. Video here.

   

On Ebola & WHO's Failures, Natalegawa Tells Inner City Press He Wants Clarity, Amorim More Justice

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9, with video -- When the UN's High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises held a press conference on May 8, Inner City Press asked the panel about criticism by Doctors Without Borders MSF and others of the UN's and World Health Organization's initial response to Ebola. Video here.

 Former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa replied about the need for clear chains of command; Brazil's Celso Amorim spoke movingly about disparities like $9 per person for health care in Liberia versus $8000 per person in some European Union countries.
 
  Inner City Press asked the High Level Panel's chair, Tanzanian President Kikwete, if he would speak about Burundi and his role there.Video here.

 Kikwete told Inner City Press to ask him about Burundi after the press conference. Inner City Press did, specifically if the EAC will be opining on if a third term would violate the Arusha Agreements or pose regional threats.

  "Be patient," was Kikwete's response, saying that the foreign ministers who visited Burundi will report back on May 13. We will cover that at that time.

  During the press conference, Kikwete dealt with aplomb when UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq called him the "former president" of Tanzania. There were a number of "formers" (and "futures") on the panel, but Kikwete is current.

   Moments after Kikwete's and the panel's press conference, the UN Security Council issued "elements to the press" which "called upon all parties to refrain from violence and to prioritize Burundi’s peace and stability through the current political dialogue and also to achieve their needs through legal and peaceful means. They stressed the need to hold a credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral process."

 Inner City Press asked the Security Council's president for May  Raimonda Murmokaite of Lithuania how the third term was discussed in the Council's closed meeting. She replied that individual members did express their views on the third term but it was not really the essence of the discussion.  We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press has asked the UN about Burundi, most recently on May 4 and 5 and now May 6, below. Now it's said the UN's Said Djinnit will belatedly brief the Security Council on May 7 - we'll be there.

  On May 6, Inner City Press asked the UN, " I don't know if you have an update on Burundi?"

  Moments later, beyond an if-asked, a statement was handed to UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, who answered Inner City Press with this:

"Regarding Burundi, after a plenary session yesterday, Burundian stakeholders continued the political dialogue.  Our Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Said Djinnit, is facilitating work in smaller committees.  The objective of the dialogue remains to seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.  Meanwhile, we welcome the arrival in Bujumbura of the foreign ministers of the East African community, and we look forward to working closely with the region on this."

  The UN is relentlessly upbeat - and marginalized. Watch this site.

 On May 4, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: On Burundi, I want to know if you have any statement on the violence in the capital in which at least two people have been killed today protesting the third-term run of the President?

Spokesman Dujurric:  Sure, we continue to follow the events in Burundi with great concern and deplore the loss of lives and injuries as well as the destruction of property that we've seen.  We reiterate our calls to all the parties to reject violence, exercise maximum restraint, and avoid using inflammatory language, as well as to take the necessary appeasement measures to create conditions for dialogue.  In this regard, the UN mission on the ground, MENUB, has been encouraging all stakeholders to seize the opportunities of the dialogue that is organized by the Ministry of Interior with the support of the UN on 5 and 6 May.  That is tomorrow and Wednesday.  And we trust that stakeholders will see and build on this dialogue as an opportunity to defuse tensions and seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.

 Later on May 4, Ban Ki-moon met with Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, but no UN read-out was issued. On May 5, Inner City Press asked for this, and about the judge who fled the country amid death threats. Video here.

   

On Ebola, Ban Ki-moon Sends UNMEER Mission to Mali, Presser With Two American Questions With WHO Which Banned BuzzFeed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 21 -- After an Ebola meeting of the UN Chief Executives Board in Washington, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the World Health Organization's Margaret Chan on November 21 took two questions from the media: both American, NPR and AP.

  Ban Ki-moon said that he has asked Tony Banbury of the UNMEER mission to open up in Mali, given the spread of ebola there. Previously Inner City Press asked the UN to confirm that its Mali Mission MINUSMA has canceled its contract with the Pasteur Institute in Bamako; the UN has yet to confirm it.

  Not mentioned by Ban is that his envoy to Mali Bert Koenders cut and ran, in the middle of the crises, to become Dutch foreign minister. So WHO is running the UN's show in Mali?

  As to WHO, last week it ham-handedly cc-ed BuzzFeed on its internal email stating that BuzzFeed reporter Jina Moore, "who on two occasions reported inaccurately," is banned. (Mashable has posted the chain of WHO e-mails, here.)

  Inner City Press at the UN's noon briefing on November 14 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about WHO banning BuzzFeed. Video here and embedded below.

 Haq said he'd read the reports but wasn't sure if they are correct -- there doesn't seem to be any dispute of the authenticity of the WHO emails. Haq said to asked WHO - but it is a part of the UN system. Isn't there a system wide policy?

 Inner City Press asked again on November 21, just before Ban's and Chan's joint press availability. Ban's lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric replied that much as he'd like to ban some media, they don't and he hopes his colleagues don't.

  During Ban's tenure at the head of the UN system, his Under Secretaries General have been allowed to pick and choose which media to respond to, to say on camera, "I don't respond to you," even to block -- or Ban -- a media's camera filming from the authorized UN General Assembly stakeout, Vine here.

  Things have reached this state in part because the old United Nations Correspondents Association, which one would expect to push back, has joined in the censorship trend. 

  For example, UNCA's then-president Giampaolo Pioli demanded that an article describing his financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador be removed from the Internet or he would get the Press thrown out of the UN. 

  Lo and behold, an UNCA then-board member from Voice of America wrote a letter to the UN requesting just that; an Inner City Press FOIA request showed Voice of America said it had the support of the UN bureau chiefs of AFP and Reuters -- which has gotten Google to block -- or Ban -- from Search even its complaint to the UN, claiming it is private and subject to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This UN breeds censorship.

   Still, WHO's written explanation of a ban for "inaccurate reporting" in the middle of a health crisis is a new low. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this.  For now, consider the UN did nothing when the President of Sierra Leone jailed a journalist for his reporting on Ebola, as well as for daring to question President Ernest Bai Koroma's performance.

  The UN had a peacekeeping mission in the country, has a Country Team and now the UN Mission on Ebola Emergency Response, UNMEER. So at the UN's November 5 noon briefing Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: In Sierra Leone a journalist, David Tam-Baryoh, has been put in jail, maximum security prison, for his reporting on Ebola under a law that says that it is a crime to undermine Government efforts to fight the epidemic. He's also questioned the third term for the Presiden Koroma. So, I wanted to know what is the UN system, given its involvement through UNMEER and otherwise, what do they say about this case? Also, it seems does UNMEER have any human rights mandate or component to it? I thought all kind of UN entities had some overarching or inherent Rights Up Front…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: There's a country office in all three countries. Human Rights Up Front does apply to all UN staff and missions. What is… I don't have the particulars of this case, but it is clear that journalists need to be allowed to do their work free of intimidation and fear.

Inner City Press: What about a law that says, obviously, it's important to fight Ebola, but should a journalist be, should a law exist in which you clearly could be arrested for…?

Spokesman: I think, clearly, the media has a very important role to play in fighting… in part of our response against Ebola, whether it's fighting stigmatization or other issues.

Those are generalities, but what is the UN doing? What does Ban Ki-moon's "Rights Up Front," born of his failure in Sri Lanka in 2009, really mean? Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access have been told that UN inquiries are being made. We'll have more on this.