Amid Cameroon's 73-Day Internet Cut-Off, How Can UN Deposit Biya's UNCITRAL Ratification?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 30 – While Cameroon has cut off the Internet to the Anglophone regions for more than 70 days, the country says it is poised to ratify the UN's Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, adopted on November 23, 2005 in New York. How could the UN accept and deposit such a ratification? Cameroonian Minister of Trade, Lucile Magloire Mbarga Atangana cited the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law or UNCITRAL, one of the entities routinely meeting in UN conference rooms with little notice by the UN-facilitated media. This must change. When Cameroon forced refugees back into Nigeria, the UN rightly complained. Why not, then, of Cameroon's now more than 70-day Internet cut-off in its Anglophone areas, leading to the creation of an "Internet refugee camp" in Bonako? Meanwhile French firms continue pursuing money under Paul Biya, including Sofema selling a patrol boat to Biya's navy, and Tessi ironically moving in the "digitization" market in Francophone Cameroon. The UN on March 28 answered others of Inner City Press' questions, but not the one about former UN legal adviser Felix Agbor Balla. The UN is being asked today again about Agbor Balla, and about the arrested lawyer Robert Fon, former President of Northwest Common Law Lawyers’ Association, arrested and transferred to Yaounde. On March 29 Inner City Press asked the UN: "Because UNanswered, asking again: In Cameroon, former UN legal adviser (in UNAMA and elsewhere) Felix Agbor Balla now, according to a UK-based barristers' organization, faces a military trial with the death penalty on the table for speaking out about conditions in the country's Anglophone areas, where the Internet has been cut for 71 days and counting. Particularly given Agbor-Balla's former position as a UN legal expert, what is not only the UN's comment, but what is the UN doing to attempt to ensure he receives due process? Also, what about the arrest of human rights lawyer Robert Fon and his transfer to Yaounde?" But while the UN responded to other questions from Inner City Press, nothing on this one. Nothing.

With former UN legal adviser Felix Agbor-Balla in Cameroon facing a military trial with the death penalty on the table, a UK-based legal group has written to Cameroonian president Paul Biya (here) while his former employer the UN has done... nothing.  Inner City Press will be asking the UN yet again, while also seeking action and responses from others. With the UN's response to weeks of questions about repression and Internet cut off in Cameroon from Inner City Press being two ambiguous statements about the work of its Francois Lonseny Fall, on the morning of March 27 Inner City Press asked the UN's three top spokespeople: "In Cameroon, on which you've said the UN's Lonseny Fall is working, now the government has acted against TV station CRTV reporting on unrest in Western Cameroon. What is your comment, and what is Lonseny Fall or anyone else in the UN system doing about it? As asked before, what is the status of naming the next Resident Coordinator, and confirm if Najat Rochdi has begun at Deputy SRSG post in CAR." At the day's UN noon briefing, sans UN-restricted Inner City Press, spokesperson Farhan Haq faced only two questions. Afterward his Office sent Inner City Press this, which we publish in full: "Regarding the question you asked about Cameroon, the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), and the UN Country Team in Cameroon continue to follow events in the country. Concerning reports of the closure by the Government of a TV station in Western region of Cameroon, our colleagues are looking into the allegations.  We remain concerned about reports of pressure being placed on press organs in Cameroon that are working on the situation in the Anglophone Regions, including reports of arrests and even alleged disappearance of journalists."

Cameroon Anglophone human rights defenders set for show trials on March 23 ran into a new trick: the government trying to join the cases of 25 more defendants with theirs. From collective punishment to collective trials. The ruling on that will now be on April 7. Tellingly, Voice of America's story didn't even mention the Internet cut-off for more than 60 days in Anglophone Cameroon, not that defendant Felix Agbor Balla was a UN legal adviser, for whom today's UN does nothing. VOA and the UN: birds of a feather.

   While the UN first stonewalled then issued misleading statements about Cameroon, where the Internet has been cut off by the government in the Northwest and Southwest (Anglophone) regions for more than 60 days and counting, Inner City Press March 21, Inner City Press asked the UN's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about the summons against Akere Muna, the lawyer for a former UN legal adviser, Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla. UN's March 21 Transcript here and below. On March 22, Inner City Press asked the UN about the underlying detention of Agbor-Balla. Video here; UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press:  I wanted to ask you a Cameroon question.  I'd asked you yesterday about this lawyer that's been summoned in, and there's growing outrage about that.  But, actually, he's the lawyer for a person that used to be a UN legal adviser in UNAMA [United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan] named Felix Agbor Balla.  He's a lawyer that worked for the UN and now has been detained for months.  Several US Congresspeople have, in fact, raised the issue.  And I'm just wondering, one, particularly in the case of a former UN staff locked up seemingly without any type of due process, locked up only for advocacy, is there any UN role in these cases in actually looking into this individual case of a… of a former UN legal adviser now under detention in Yaoundé?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, we would certainly expect that due process is followed.  We want to make sure that… especially that human rights defenders are not being prosecuted unfairly and those would be key concerns.

   Agbor-Balla's continued detention has triggered protest from, as it happens, the US state of Indiana, where Congress members of both parties have spoken out: Democrat André Carson and Republican Jackie Walorski. But the UN, after two weeks of Press questions, offered only a statement by its Francois Lonseny Fall, largely covering up for the government of Paul Biya, in power for 32 years. What good is the UN? The question is becoming louder: watch this site.

From the March 21 transcript:

Inner City Press: in Cameroon, a guy called Akéré Muna, who was at one time the vice-chair of Transparency International, has been summoned by the police since the statement that was read here on Friday about how this dialogue is going.  So, given that Mr. Muna, in particular, is representing some of those who've already been detained by the Government, given that you've made a statement saying that there's a dialogue that Mr. [Francois] Loncény Fall was involved, if there have been many arrests since then and, in fact, the main lawyer for that community is now being arrested, what's your comment?

Deputy Spokesman: in Cameroon, we would be concerned about any efforts to hinder the work of human rights defenders.  Human rights defenders, wherever they are, need to be able to go about their work without hindrance and without fear of arrest.

But what is the UN doing? Back on March 17, lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric had returned with an answer: "in response to the situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Mr. François Louncény Fall, carried out a number of visits to the country to discuss with the concerned parties the situation on the ground.  His office has also carried out a number of working-level visits.  Mr. Fall will continue efforts to engage with all relevant parties and to monitor the situation in close cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).We firmly believe that the grievances expressed by the Anglophone regions can only be addressed through an inclusive dialogue.  In that regard, we note that, on 15 March, the President of Cameroon appointed the president and 13 representatives to the National Commission for the promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, the body tasked to engage in dialogue with the Anglophone community of Cameroon."

  But "all relevant parties" does not appear to include France, whose UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told Inner City Press earlier on March 17 he was unaware of the issue. Inner City Press asked Dujarric, straight up, if the UN thinks the Internet should be brought back. Video here. UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: thanks for the statement.  Inevitably, there's at least one follow-up.  You said that Mr. Loncény Fall had spoken to all relevant parties.  And I wanted to know if this included France.  And I say it… I ask it just because the Permanent Representative just now on camera said that he'd never heard of the issue of the internet being cut off for 60 days.

Spokesman:  Well, I can’t answer that…
Inner City Press:  Because I don't get answers from DPA or Mr. Loncény Fall's office can you ask whether they spoke to [inaudible]…? [that was FRANCE]

Spokesman:  Yeah, I don’t… the way I read it is that he spoke to people in Cameroon.  So, if I can find out more, I…

Inner City Press:  Did he call for the internet to be, in fact, turned back on?

Spokesman:  I think it's obviously important that people have access to the internet.  

  In front of the UN Security Council on March 17 Inner City Press asked France's Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre about his counterpart in Yaounde, Gilles Thibault, earlier this month congratulating 32-year President Paul Biya for how he's dealing with the areas. Delattre replied that he was unaware but would look into it. Video here.

  Back on March 14 Inner City Press asked the US State Department: "Back on November 28, 2016, the Department issued a statement of 'concern[] over recent Cameroonian government actions to restrict free expression.' Since then, the government has cut off the Internet in the two regions, also known as the Anglophone areas, has arrested journalists and most schools remain closed. Is the US State Department concerned about these developments and if so, what if anything has it done about them?"

  On March 15, a US State Department official answered Inner City Press: "We have discussed this issue with the Government of Cameroon both before and after our statement of concern.  We don’t go into the details of our diplomatic conversations, but we engage regularly with the government on this and other issues as part of our normal bilateral relations." We hope to have more on this.

  On March 9, Inner City Press asked both the International Monetary Fund and the UN Security Council's president about the crisis in Cameroon's Anglophone areas and heard that while the IMF acknowledges the financial risk, the Security Council does not see it as a threat to international peace and security. But the UN's Resident Coordinator Najat Rochdi has said nothing about the crisis, and blocks on Twitter the Press which asks about it. Is the UN system failing, in its new Secretary General's promise of increased preventative diplomacy?

 When the IMF's spokesperson Gerry Rice took questions on March 9, Inner City Press asked about Cameroon, specifically the crackdown in the northwest and southwest of the country. Inner City Press asked, "On Cameroon, after the mission led by Corinne Delechat, what is the status of talks for a program, and since the IMF cited “civil unrest in the neighboring Central African Republic,” please state the IMF's awareness of civil unrest and arrests in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon, also known as the Anglophone areas, and their impact." Rice read out the question and then said, among other things, that the risk factors for 2017 include a continuation of the "social and political events" in the "so-called Anglophone" areas of Cameroon. Interim video here.  On IMF site, here, from 34:56. IMF transcript below.

  But a few hours later when Inner City Press asked the month's UN Security Council president Matthew Rycroft of the UK, who had just been in Cameroon, about the crisis, he said it is not a threat to international peace and security. From the UK transcript:

Inner City Press: In Cameroon there’s an issue that has been existing since November in Anglophone areas which have no internet for 52 days, there’s been teachers arrested, no schools. So I’m wondering as one Council member said, it did somehow come up in meetings, but was the issue raised at all, and what response was given by the government to this ongoing cut off of internet and abuse in this area?

Amb Rycroft: It came up informally in our contacts with members of the Government of Cameron but as far as I recall it did not come up in any formal meeting, and I think that makes sense because we were going there to look at the threat to international peace and security, and Boko Haram, and related issues, but in private, informal discussions with ministers in the Government of Cameroon it came up and they gave us the benefit of their perspective on the issue.

Inner City Press: Is there any Security Council role that can be played in trying to preventively deal with this issue?

Amb Rycroft: I don’t think it’s an issue on our agenda per se, we keep our eye on our radar across the world, but we have to make a judgement about whether something is a threat to international peace and security, and at the moment, I think our judgement would be that issue is an issue that is confined within Cameroon without international aspects.

  But the UN Resident Coordinator does nothing about it, says nothing, blocks the Press. Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: the answer you sent about Mr. [Francois] Louncény Fall saying that he would raise issues to the authorities.  Can you say whether the issue of the internet being off in two provinces for 52 days has been raised?  And, secondarily, I wanted to ask you this.  You announced from this podium that Najat Rochdi is going to Central African Republic as Resident Coordinator.  What's the process to appoint a new Resident Coordinator for the UN system in Cameroon?  And is it… is it… is it… can it be public in any way?  It seems many people have complained that, while she was there, she never raised the Anglophone issue.  And, in fact, I found that she blocks Inner City Press on Twitter, so I'm unable to ask her why this issue has not been raised.  But what's the process to replace… and you can smirk, but should a UN official in their official account…?

Spokesman:  That's an unrelated thing.  I mean, obviously, all people… all individuals, not even just all UN officials, are free to block whoever they want on Twitter.  That's within their rights.

Inner City Press:  Including missions?  So you think a peacekeeping mission should pick and choose which media can follow it?

Spokesman:  Organizations will respond… are supposed to respond to press requests.  Individuals can do whatever they like with their Twitter accounts.

Inner City Press:  What's the process of replacing the Resident Coordinator in Cameroon?

Spokesman:  It's the same as in any other place.  There's a process that goes… that you go through, and the Resident Coordinator's selection process is supervised by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). 

  This is at odds with the UN's claims to be transparent in its use of public money, and to be open to the press and impacted public, and will be pursued at Rochdi's next assignment at the UN in Central African Republic. But it raises the question: how are UN Resident Coordinators selected? Inner City Press reported on Ban Ki-moon's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee getting multiple promotion under Ban, including being named UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya by Ban himself. (Inner City Press was evicted by Ban's UN, and remains restricted under Ban's successor). But shouldn't Anglophone Cameroonians have some input into the UN's next Resident Coordinator in their country? This is a project for the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. Watch these sites and feeds.

From the IMF's March 9 transcript:

"There is a question of Cameroon, from Matthew Lee, "After the Mission what is the status of talks for a program; and since the IMF cited civil unrest in the neighboring Central African Republic, please state the IMF's awareness of civil unrest and arrests in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon? And also known as the Anglophone areas, and their impact?"

So, the background here is, I think important the context. So, the Fund's engagement here in the CEMAC Region, CEMAC is the six Central African Economic nations that comprise the Central African Economic and monetary community. They met in Yaoundé on December 23rd. The Managing Director was there. And in that meeting, heads of state discussed the economic situation, the severe shocks that have hit that CEMAC region in recent years, including the sharp decline in oil prices, and decided to act collectively and in a concerted manner. And the heads of state requested the assistance of the IMF to design economic reforms needed to reestablish macroeconomic stability in each country and in the region as a whole.

So, again, context: I can tell you that the funders already sent missions to Gabon, Republic of Congo. And a reminder to you, that we already have programs with Central African Republic and Chad. Okay?

Now, we also have sent a mission to Cameroon, which is the question. And we did issue a press statement, which the question referred to, just on Tuesday. That was the Corrine Delechat reference.

So, the specific question, to turn to that. We are indeed aware of the events in the so-called Anglophone regions of Cameroon. The macroeconomic impact of any event that could affect production and/or consumption, is typically felt with a certain lag. So, these events started in November last year, and thus are likely to have not had a significant impact on production in 2016.

For 2017, the risks to our growth outlook include a combination of external and domestic factors, including continuation of the sociopolitical events in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon. And as our press release the other day indicated, our view is that the medium-term outlook for the Cameroonian economy remains positive, subject to the implementation of appropriate policies."

We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

Wells Fargo Paying $110 Million For Fake Accounts, 400 Branch Closures Still On?

By Matthew R. Lee

WASHINGTON, March 29 – The day after Wells Fargo Bank's Community Reinvestment Act rate was dropped to "Needs to Improve," barring it from acquisitions, the bank settled for $110 million a class action lawsuit for having opened fake accounts without customers' knowledge or approval. But will Wells Fargo, which Inner City Press hascovered through its acquisition of First Union and even before, from Washington to Alaska, still be allowed to go forward with its reportedplan to close 400 bank branches, including in low and moderate income areas? The question reverberated, with others, on Capitol Hill on March 29 - and we'll have more on it.

  Meanwhile the US Federal Reserve Board, which bears more than a little responsibility for the global financial crash from 2008 due to inattention to predatory lending including on mergers, has now further reduced its scrutiny of bank mergers, with little notice to date. Now Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press has timely challenged the Federal Reserve's stealth reduction of scrutiny, in a timely request for reconsideration filed with the Federal Reserve on the evening of March 27, below. FFW and others including NCRC protested, and Inner City Press has Freedom of Information Act requests pending regarding, the application by People's United to acquire Suffolk County National Bank. 

FFW showed that  in the the New York City MSA, "People's United made 82 home purchase loans to whites and NONE to African Americans or Latinos. This is redlining; this proposed acquisition could not legitimately be approved and People's United should be referred for prosecution for redlining by the Department of Justice and CFPB." 

When the Fed ruled on People's application, it added this: "In 2012, in its order approving Capital One Financial Corporation’s acquisition of certain U.S. operations of ING, the Board stated that a proposal that involves an acquisition of less than $2 billion in assets, that results in a firm with less than $25 billion in total assets, or that represents a corporate reorganization may be presumed not to raise material financial stability concerns absent evidence that the transaction would result in a significant increase in interconnectedness, complexity, cross-border activities, or other risk factors.  Since establishing this presumption, the Board’s experience has shown that proposals involving an acquisition of less than $10 billion in assets, or that result in a firm with less than $100 billion in total assets, are generally not likely to create institutions that pose systemic risks. Transactions below either of these asset thresholds have typically not involved, or resulted in, firms with activities, structures, and operations that are complex or opaque. Such transactions have also not materially increased the interconnectedness or complexity of the financial system. Accordingly, the Board now presumes that a proposal does not raise material financial stability concerns if the assets involved fall below either of the aforementioned size thresholds, absent evidence that the transaction would result in a significant increase in interconnectedness, complexity, cross-border activities, or other risk factors." Why wasn't this subject, at least, to notice and comment rulemaking? Why now? FFW and ICP have filed a "timely request for reconsideration, on behalf of timely commenters Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press (ICP) of the Approval and Stealthy Announced Change in Financial Stability Review Presumptions in the Board's March 16 Approval of Application by People's  United Financial to acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of, and thereby merge with, Suffolk Bancorp, and thereby indirectly acquire voting shares of The Suffolk County National Bank, both in Riverhead, New York. While there are many portions of the approval order crying for reconsidering, to be clear ICP will herein have the following focus, on the Federal Reserve Board's misuse of this proceeding and approval order to purport to change its review of future applications, on the financial stability and inevitably related factors. What is the basis of the Federal Reserve determining that post-crisis scrutiny should be reduced? The above quoted portion of the order must be reconsidered, stripped out, and made subject to public comment. On fair lending issues, the Order does not appropriately address or take into account that in 2015 in the New York City MSA, People's United made 110 home purchase loans to whites and only ONE to an African American and only four to Latinos.
Again, this is systematic redlining; this proposed acquisition could not legitimately be approved and People's United should be referred for prosecution for redlining by the Department of Justice and CFPB. ICP said that a hearing was needed, and now after the Fed's insertion of a policy change into the Order, reiterates that." We'll have more on this.

  At what point does bank executives' spin to investors and the media become more than misleading? Take Community Bank System (NYSE: CBU), which has now received on March 13 consumer lending questions on top of the nine earlier questions from the Federal Reserve on its proposal to acquire Merchants, after its CEO derided issues Fair Finance Watch raised about the proposal. 

 On March 13, the Fed asked CBU: "In connection with the application by Community Bank System, Inc. (“Community”), DeWitt, parent company of Community Bank, National Association (“Community Bank”), Canton, both of New York, to merge with Merchants Bancshares (“Merchants”), and thereby acquire Merchants Bank, both of South Burlington, Vermont, pursuant to section 3(a)(5) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, 12 U.S.C. § 1842(a)(5), Federal Reserve staff requests the following additional information:

1.       Provide an update on Community Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) activities and efforts since its July 27, 2016 CRA Performance Evaluation.  In your response, address the activities in the bank’s assessment areas under each of the lending, investment, and service tests.

2.       Regarding consumer lending products:

a.       reconcile page iv of the Bank Merger Act (“BMA”) application, which states that Merchants Bank currently offers consumer loans, with page xiv of the BMA application, which states that Merchants Bank does not currently offer consumer lending products and services; and

b.      explain how the consumer lending products and services offered by Community Bank, including overdraft lines of credits, are enhanced compared to Merchants Bank’s offerings."

  On its last proposal, CBSI bad-mouthed a Community Reinvestment Act protest even as it had to delay its Oneida deal. First, CBSI's "Hal Wentworth said that Inner City Press is not a local group and pointed out that letter was the only one filed on the Oneida deal. 'This activist does not do business with either Oneida or Community Bank, but nonetheless made vague allegations regarding Community,' Wentworth said. 'These allegations were entirely without merit and will be fully addressed by Community Bank and Oneida Savings in the application process.'" Then the deal was significantly delayed, with CBSI pushing the date back. 

  More spin:  CFO Scott Kingsley told the media that FFW's protest "is not the sole reason. We have other things that have to sequentially happen to get to the technological conversion in July. When we did not have a definitive answer from the Fed or other parties last week, that put the technological conversion at risk, so we opted not to go ahead.”

  This time, it went to the CEO Mark Tryniski, who in January 2017 told stock analysts that "despite the baseless protest filed with the Fed Reserve by a serial activist, we expect to close in the second" question. We'll see. Among the nine questions: "Community Bank states that, to the extent it does not intend to continue to offer certain loan products and services offered by Merchants Bank post-merger, it does not believe that not offering such products and services would have a significant impact on the target bank's communities. As an example, Community Bank cites the fact that Merchants Bank would no longer accept applications for FHA/VA loans (on behalf of a mortgage company), but that Community Bank would offer loan products and programs which are not currently offered by Merchants Bank that Community Bank believes are comparable and 'equally valuable' to its communities, such as FNMA's Home Ready Program, Community Bank's Affordable Housing Program, and the USDA loan program. Compare the features of FHA and VA loans for which applications are presently taken by Merchants Bank with the features of the products and programs that Community Bank asserts are comparable, including any features of FHA and VA loans that are not covered by Community Bank's offerings."  Watch this site.

   With Capital One failing in its proposal to acquire the "World's Foremost Bank," another bank merger challenged by Fair Finance Watch failed. In December it was Astoria's proposed take over by NY Community Bancorp, here.

   In January, disparate lender Investor Bancorp, on which Fair Finance Watch previously got a condition imposed saw its proposal with Bank of Princeton fall apart.

  And now it's Capital One - Cabela, on which Inner City Press commented: "In the New York City MSA in 2015, the most recent year for which HMDA data is available, for conventional home purchase loans Capital One denied the applications of whites 23% of the time, while denying African Africans fully 45% of the time, and Latinos even more, 46% of the time. This is unacceptable.

  Meanwhile, Capital One is “closing branches in Laurel, Gaithersburg, Frederick and Merrifield.”

   Capital One came back with snark, as has Simmons National -- but then announced including to NCRC that  it will withdrawn its application. Onward.

***

At UN, After Ghoulish Farewell to Gallach, A DPI Officer in Charge, Recruitment Continues

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 – After the UN's head of Communications Cristina Gallach is given a strange farewell toast on March 30, the "position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge... while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues," the UN replied to Inner City Press on March 29. The day before, the same UN Spokesman had declined to even confirm that Gallach was leaving.  On the morning of March 28 Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman to state if the Under Secretary General of the Department of Public Information is leaving March 31 and the status of the recruitment" to replace her. Spokesman Farhan Haq replied, "We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur." Then later on March 28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press, this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI, Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at 5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine will be served. Please join us for a farewell toast!" If it's farewell, she's leaving. Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own auditat Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press without any hearing or appeal? The decline in media access? On March 29, Inner City Press asked among other things, "yesterday your Office replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur.' Now that your partner has arranged a farewell for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale for your Office refusing to confirm her departure and the status of recruiting a replacement?" The UN spokesman replied, "Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach, her position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues." We'll have more on this.

On March 15, Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: Is the head of OHRM [Office of Human Resources Management] still in place?  I wanted to ask you that.  I've heard that the ASG [Assistant Secretary-General] for OHRM is actually no long… and I ask because it's… they're the person who decides who can be punished and who can't.  Are they…?

Spokesman:  Right, right.  I understand… I mean, I don't know if the outgoing… or if the person who was in that post is actually still there.  And even if they… if a senior official is no… a person is no longer in the post, there's an officer in charge, and the process… the process continues.

  Hours later, Dujarric never confirmed this simple fact, about the UN official who decides who gets punished. We now exclusively publish this: 

From: Carole Wamuyu Wainaina /NY/UNO@UNHQ
Date: 03/13/2017 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I am out of the office until 31/12/2030.

Following a valuable two and the half years as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management at the UN, I wish to inform colleagues and others, whom I have not had a chance to notify, that I  will be moving to back to Africa in a new role.
Mr. Victor Kisob will replace me temporarily as Acting ASG... I wish to thank you all for your support, advice and friendship during my time at the UN. Cheers, Carole

   The UN discloses nothing. On March 13, Inner City Press asked the UN's Dujarric, UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: I've noticed that two new senior-level vacancies have been announced at OHRM [Office for Human Resources Management] and the UN University, but I also… that the one for DPI [Department of Public Information], the deadline was extended.  Can you give some sense of… it was said to be 6 March.  Now it's 20 March.  Also, OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], for example, there are other posts that neither have been extended nor have they been advertised.  But, particularly on the extension of DPI, I wanted to… does this mean that they were unsatisfied with the applications they got?  What's behind it?

Spokesman:  I don't know.  I'm happily not involved in the recruiting process.  I think, as any hiring manager has the authority to do, we can… the recruiting deadline can be extended for a number reasons.

Inner City Press:  When does Mr. [Stephen] O'Brien's contract expire?

Spokesman:  I don't know.  I think most people were extended for some time.  I don't know what the exact date is.

   And five hours later, the question wasn't answered. The same question could be asked and should be answered regarding the head of DGACM Catherine Pollard, previously the head of OHRM during the time of the cases recently decided by the UN Appeals Tribunal. Of her successor Carole Wainanu, sources tell Inner City Press she "disappeared" on March 10 and that "someone is now Acting ASG/OHRM in her place." Suspicions -- bred by lack of transparency - was expressed: "The ASG/OHRM gets to decide who gets charged with misconduct and who gets let off." We hope to have more on this.

The ad for the post Gallach has damaged has been extended from March 6 to March 20, while the position of Rector of UN University, held by David Malone of Canada, and Assistant Secretary General of Human Resources Management, held by Carole Wamuyu Wainaina of Kenya, have been opened for applications until April 22 and 17, respectively.

  Even since Gallach's position was belatedly opened for application, she has held a murkyaward session for a airline for adding a UN sign to one plane, has wasted public fundsflying once again to her native Barcelona and has restricted the Press from events on Sexual Abuse in Conflict, Disappearances,  the deathof Vitaly Churkin, Ghana, and others. We'll have more on this.

   Last February UN Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN on two hours notice, and had it physically ejected by eight UN Security officers, audio here. 

  There was no due process, and no appeal since.

  There was, however, a conflict of interest. Inner City Press had begun asking Gallach about her links to the UN bribery scandal of Ng Lap Seng in October 2015, video here. 

 Gallach in retaliation evicted Inner City Press and had its files thrown out onto First Avenue.She has tried to give its office to an Egyptian state media which rarely comes to the UN, and never asks questions. Inner City Press remains restricted.

  In early February 2017, Cristina Gallach's position was the subject of a vacancy notice, here, said to be open until March 6. While some then told Inner City Press to "let it go, she's leaving" -- actually, reversal of her decisions and written rules to protect journalists going forwad were and are still needed -- others said, ghoulishly, Gallach was re-applying to continue her reign. Now, troublingly, the time to apply for the DPI job has been extended to March 20. Does this mean no dispositive applications have been received? One thing must be clear: Gallach must go. We'll have more on this.

 On February 3, Inner City Press asked UN holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the vacancy announcement, and if respect for due process shouldn't be made part of the USG DPI job description. We'll have more on this.

   One year ago, covering the UN corruption scandals which have resulted in two sets of indictments for bribery involving the UN, Inner City Press was ordered to leave the UN Press Briefing Room by then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

  Other correspondents were allowed to stay in the briefing room, which Dujarric had "lent" them. But he insisted that Inner City Press leave. Video here.

  Inner City Press asked to see any paperwork that the event was closed; none was provided. Inner City Press stated that if a single UN Security official asked it to leave, it would. Finally one guard came and said Dujarric wanted it to leave. 

  Inner City Press immediately left, uploaded the already live-streamed Periscope video, and continued digging into the corruption that's resulted in the indictment for bribery and money laundering of Ban Ki-moon's brother Ban Ki Sang and nephew Dennis Bahn.

  But three weeks afterward, without a single conversation or opportunity to be heard, Ban's Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN, after ten years, on two hours notice. Order here.

   This was enforced, as Inner City Press worked on its laptop at the UN Security Council stakeout, by eight UN Security officers led by Deputy Chief McNulty, who tore Inner City Press accreditation badge off its chest and said, "Now you are a trespasser." Audio here.

  Inner City Press was marched down the escalator and around the UN traffic circle, without even its coat which was up in its longtime office. It was pushed out of the gate and its laptop, in a bag, was thrown on the sidewalk and damaged.

  The next work day when Inner City Press arranged for a fellow journalist to sign it in as a guest so it could cover the Security Council, UN Security official Matthew Sullivan said it was Banned from UN premises worldwide. Audio here.

   After three days covering the UN from the park in front in the sleet, and articles like this one, Inner City Press re-entered with a "non-resident correspondents" pass - to which it is still, more than eleven months later, confined.

  The then-US Mission under Samantha Power and Isobel Coleman, even petitioned by the DC-based Government Accountability Project, did nothing. Indirectly, a offer was made of an upgraded pass if Inner City Press would agree to a gag order, to which it would not and will not agree.

  There has been no UN opportunity for appeal or reinstatement. After having five boxes of Inner City Press' investigative files thrown on the sidewalk in April, Gallach is giving its office to an Egyptian state media Akhbar al Yom which rarely comes in, a correspondent Sanaa Youssef who had yet to ask a single question. 

Her only claim is that she was once, decades ago, a president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, the group to which Duajrric "lent" the UN Press Briefing Room, without notice or written record, on January 29, 2016. 

 Even as the scope of Ban Ki-moon's corruption is being exposed upon his return to South Korea, here, his successor Antonio Guterres has yet to reverse this year of censorship and no due process. On January 6 Dujarric and Gallach led him on a tour of... the UN Correspondents Association, which now wants him again in their clubhouse. (More on this to follow.)

 On January 27 as Inner City Press moved to cover Guterres at the UN's Holocaust event, it was targeted by UN Security and told it could not proceed without a minder, who did not appear for over 15 minutes. 

  The harassment continued through the day, as Inner City Press exposed more corruption, including involving Jeffrey Feltman (Dujarric told ICP its questioning was "despicable"), and the use of military contingents involved in war crimes in Herve Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping, as criticized by new US Ambassador Nikki Haley.

 All of this must change. This is a scam, and censorship: the UN's Censorship Alliance. We will have more on this.

UN Cherry-Picks Two of Five Press Qs, Gallach & Bashir, Leaves Cameroon & W Sahara UNanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 – What is the bare minimum a spokesperson should be expected to do, for an organization like the UN? Should it include at least providing some response to Press questions submitted, rather as happened at the UN on March 29, providing two responses to five Inner City Press question, simply ignoring questions on Cameroon, corruption and Western Sahara? Inner City Press on the morning of March 29 asked the UN's top three spokespeople "questions in advance of the noon briefing, to be answered at that time: 1) What is the Secretary General's comment on Jordan rolling out the red carpet for Sudan's Omar al Bashir, subject to an ICC arrest warrant for genocide? 2) Given that the UN Economic Commission for Africa has had to delay its meeting with African finance ministers at the Dakar meeting the 38th floor is tracking due to Morocco seeking to exclude the Polisario, does the SG / DPA think these developments move the situation in Western Sahara closer to a peaceful solution and referendum? 3) In one of two UN-related bribery prosecutions in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Ng Lap Seng's co-defendant Jeff C. Yin is now engaged in plea negotiations, as Ng Lap Seng's trial draws near. Will the UN be monitoring the trial as to what it shows of UN involvement, and what was done regarding the DGACM official who provided a falsified / amended for “technical” reasons document regarding the proposed Macau convention center? 4) Because UNanswered, asking again: In Cameroon, former UN legal adviser (in UNAMA and elsewhere) Felix Agbor Balla now, according to a UK-based barristers' organization, faces a military trial with the death penalty on the table for speaking out about conditions in the country's Anglophone areas, where the Internet has been cut for 71 days and counting. Particularly given Agbor-Balla's former position as a UN legal expert, what is not only the UN's comment, but what is the UN doing to attempt to ensure he receives due process? Also, what about the arrest of human rights lawyer Robert Fon and his transfer to Yaounde? Also, yesterday your Office replied, regarding the USG of DPI, “We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur.” Now that your partner has arranged a farewell for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale for your Office refusing to confirm her departure and the status of recruiting a replacement? And the unanswered questions below."

  To those Inner City Press questions, the UN Spokesman provided, past 2:30 pm, only this -- "Regarding your question about Omar al-Bashir, our position on him remains unchanged.  We urge all States, including the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC, to abide by their obligations. Regarding the naming of senior officials, we have announced two appointments today (for the Executive Director of WFP and the High Commissioner for Disarmament Affairs).  Other announcements will be made in due course.  Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach, her position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues." So, nothing on Cameroon or Morocco / Western Sahara / ECA, nor other questions on UN costs and corruption. We'll have more on this.

Again, what is the bare minimum a spokesperson should be expected to do, for an organization like the UN? Should it include, if a spokesperson has no answer to a journalist's questions at an in-person briefing, e-mailing an answer when it becomes available? Not in today's UN Spokesperson's office, at least not for Inner City Press which that Office evicted from the UN Press Briefing Room and then the UN, and still restricts. On March 7, holdover Deputy Spokesperson Haq wouldn't even explain why he had not provided available UN information, video here. On March 6, Inner City Press asked Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about Nepal. From the UN transcript: 

Inner City Press:  I know that the UN used to have a mission in Nepal, but there's been kind of increasing problems in the Madhesi and Tharu communities there, including now today people killed by security forces.  And it seems to be politically there are groups trying to mobilize.  So, I just wondered, since the Secretary-General talks about preventative diplomacy, is the UN actually looking at this growing problem in Nepal?  And does it have any idea of trying to somehow get involved as well as commenting on the killing of unarmed individuals by the security forces?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, of course, we want to make sure that any excessive use of force will be investigated.  Beyond that, we're monitoring the situation.  If there's anything further down the line, we'll let you know at that point.

   "We'll let you know." Well, the UN Office in Nepal put out a statement that it is "seriously concerned by the escalation of tensions in the lead-up to the local elections announced for May," which others (not in the UN) then sent to Inner City Press. From the UN's two holdover spokesmen, nothing. On March 7, Inner City Press asked Haq why he hadn't followed through on his "if there's anything further down the line, we'll let you know" line. From the March 7 transcript: 

Inner City Press:  yesterday I’d asked you about Nepal, and you said, you know, “I’ll get back to you if something comes out”.  Something actually did come out from the office of Nepal.  So I… maybe you’ll read it from here, but, like… wasn’t that… when you say “I’m gonna get back to you”, does it mean I’m going to send you something if the UN system provides the information?  Like, what happened?

Deputy Spokesman:  It means exactly what it means.  We’ve been dealing with each other for years.  You’ll get answers down the line once we get them.

Inner City Press:  So do you have… you’re unaware that the office of Nepal has actually put out a statement about the incident I asked you about yesterday, or do you have that?

Deputy Spokesman:  I’m aware that they’ve put out a statement.  That was after I was at the briefing.  If it was before the briefing, we could have mentioned it then.

Inner City Press:  Right, but since… between the two briefings, like, once they put it out.

  Beckett. Or Pinter. This is similar to lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when Inner City Press asked last week about the abuse of Anglophones in Cameroon, not even asking or providing a response from the Department of Political Affairs, whose Jeffrey Feltman in a rare Q&A session on March 6 said that ONUCA's Francois Lonseny Fall had visited the region. Lazy spox, indeed. UNacceptable. We'll have more on this.

Earlier (2016) here.

Amid Cameroon's 71-Day Internet Cut-Off, UN on Nigeria Refugees, Not Agbor Balla, Fon

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 – When Cameroon forced refugees back into Nigeria, the UN rightly complained. Why not, then, of Cameroon's now more than 70-day Internet cut-off in its Anglophone areas, leading to the creation of an "Internet refugee camp" in Bonako? Meanwhile French firms continue pursuing money under Paul Biya, including Sofema selling a patrol boat to Biya's navy, and Tessi ironically moving in the "digitization" market in Francophone Cameroon. The UN on March 28 answered others of Inner City Press' questions, but not the one about former UN legal adviser Felix Agbor Balla. The UN is being asked today again about Agbor Balla, and about the arrested lawyer Robert Fon, former President of Northwest Common Law Lawyers’ Association, arrested and transferred to Yaounde. Watch this site.

With former UN legal adviser Felix Agbor-Balla in Cameroon facing a military trial with the death penalty on the table, a UK-based legal group has written to Cameroonian president Paul Biya (here) while his former employer the UN has done... nothing.  Inner City Press will be asking the UN yet again, while also seeking action and responses from others. With the UN's response to weeks of questions about repression and Internet cut off in Cameroon from Inner City Press being two ambiguous statements about the work of its Francois Lonseny Fall, on the morning of March 27 Inner City Press asked the UN's three top spokespeople: "In Cameroon, on which you've said the UN's Lonseny Fall is working, now the government has acted against TV station CRTV reporting on unrest in Western Cameroon. What is your comment, and what is Lonseny Fall or anyone else in the UN system doing about it? As asked before, what is the status of naming the next Resident Coordinator, and confirm if Najat Rochdi has begun at Deputy SRSG post in CAR." At the day's UN noon briefing, sans UN-restricted Inner City Press, spokesperson Farhan Haq faced only two questions. Afterward his Office sent Inner City Press this, which we publish in full: "Regarding the question you asked about Cameroon, the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), and the UN Country Team in Cameroon continue to follow events in the country. Concerning reports of the closure by the Government of a TV station in Western region of Cameroon, our colleagues are looking into the allegations.  We remain concerned about reports of pressure being placed on press organs in Cameroon that are working on the situation in the Anglophone Regions, including reports of arrests and even alleged disappearance of journalists."

Cameroon Anglophone human rights defenders set for show trials on March 23 ran into a new trick: the government trying to join the cases of 25 more defendants with theirs. From collective punishment to collective trials. The ruling on that will now be on April 7. Tellingly, Voice of America's story didn't even mention the Internet cut-off for more than 60 days in Anglophone Cameroon, not that defendant Felix Agbor Balla was a UN legal adviser, for whom today's UN does nothing. VOA and the UN: birds of a feather.

   While the UN first stonewalled then issued misleading statements about Cameroon, where the Internet has been cut off by the government in the Northwest and Southwest (Anglophone) regions for more than 60 days and counting, Inner City Press March 21, Inner City Press asked the UN's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about the summons against Akere Muna, the lawyer for a former UN legal adviser, Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla. UN's March 21 Transcript here and below. On March 22, Inner City Press asked the UN about the underlying detention of Agbor-Balla. Video here; UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press:  I wanted to ask you a Cameroon question.  I'd asked you yesterday about this lawyer that's been summoned in, and there's growing outrage about that.  But, actually, he's the lawyer for a person that used to be a UN legal adviser in UNAMA [United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan] named Felix Agbor Balla.  He's a lawyer that worked for the UN and now has been detained for months.  Several US Congresspeople have, in fact, raised the issue.  And I'm just wondering, one, particularly in the case of a former UN staff locked up seemingly without any type of due process, locked up only for advocacy, is there any UN role in these cases in actually looking into this individual case of a… of a former UN legal adviser now under detention in Yaoundé?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, we would certainly expect that due process is followed.  We want to make sure that… especially that human rights defenders are not being prosecuted unfairly and those would be key concerns.

   Agbor-Balla's continued detention has triggered protest from, as it happens, the US state of Indiana, where Congress members of both parties have spoken out: Democrat André Carson and Republican Jackie Walorski. But the UN, after two weeks of Press questions, offered only a statement by its Francois Lonseny Fall, largely covering up for the government of Paul Biya, in power for 32 years. What good is the UN? The question is becoming louder: watch this site.

From the March 21 transcript:

Inner City Press: in Cameroon, a guy called Akéré Muna, who was at one time the vice-chair of Transparency International, has been summoned by the police since the statement that was read here on Friday about how this dialogue is going.  So, given that Mr. Muna, in particular, is representing some of those who've already been detained by the Government, given that you've made a statement saying that there's a dialogue that Mr. [Francois] Loncény Fall was involved, if there have been many arrests since then and, in fact, the main lawyer for that community is now being arrested, what's your comment?

Deputy Spokesman: in Cameroon, we would be concerned about any efforts to hinder the work of human rights defenders.  Human rights defenders, wherever they are, need to be able to go about their work without hindrance and without fear of arrest.

But what is the UN doing? Back on March 17, lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric had returned with an answer: "in response to the situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Mr. François Louncény Fall, carried out a number of visits to the country to discuss with the concerned parties the situation on the ground.  His office has also carried out a number of working-level visits.  Mr. Fall will continue efforts to engage with all relevant parties and to monitor the situation in close cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).We firmly believe that the grievances expressed by the Anglophone regions can only be addressed through an inclusive dialogue.  In that regard, we note that, on 15 March, the President of Cameroon appointed the president and 13 representatives to the National Commission for the promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, the body tasked to engage in dialogue with the Anglophone community of Cameroon."

  But "all relevant parties" does not appear to include France, whose UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told Inner City Press earlier on March 17 he was unaware of the issue. Inner City Press asked Dujarric, straight up, if the UN thinks the Internet should be brought back. Video here. UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: thanks for the statement.  Inevitably, there's at least one follow-up.  You said that Mr. Loncény Fall had spoken to all relevant parties.  And I wanted to know if this included France.  And I say it… I ask it just because the Permanent Representative just now on camera said that he'd never heard of the issue of the internet being cut off for 60 days.

Spokesman:  Well, I can’t answer that…
Inner City Press:  Because I don't get answers from DPA or Mr. Loncény Fall's office can you ask whether they spoke to [inaudible]…? [that was FRANCE]

Spokesman:  Yeah, I don’t… the way I read it is that he spoke to people in Cameroon.  So, if I can find out more, I…

Inner City Press:  Did he call for the internet to be, in fact, turned back on?

Spokesman:  I think it's obviously important that people have access to the internet.  

  In front of the UN Security Council on March 17 Inner City Press asked France's Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre about his counterpart in Yaounde, Gilles Thibault, earlier this month congratulating 32-year President Paul Biya for how he's dealing with the areas. Delattre replied that he was unaware but would look into it. Video here.

  Back on March 14 Inner City Press asked the US State Department: "Back on November 28, 2016, the Department issued a statement of 'concern[] over recent Cameroonian government actions to restrict free expression.' Since then, the government has cut off the Internet in the two regions, also known as the Anglophone areas, has arrested journalists and most schools remain closed. Is the US State Department concerned about these developments and if so, what if anything has it done about them?"

  On March 15, a US State Department official answered Inner City Press: "We have discussed this issue with the Government of Cameroon both before and after our statement of concern.  We don’t go into the details of our diplomatic conversations, but we engage regularly with the government on this and other issues as part of our normal bilateral relations." We hope to have more on this.

  On March 9, Inner City Press asked both the International Monetary Fund and the UN Security Council's president about the crisis in Cameroon's Anglophone areas and heard that while the IMF acknowledges the financial risk, the Security Council does not see it as a threat to international peace and security. But the UN's Resident Coordinator Najat Rochdi has said nothing about the crisis, and blocks on Twitter the Press which asks about it. Is the UN system failing, in its new Secretary General's promise of increased preventative diplomacy?

 When the IMF's spokesperson Gerry Rice took questions on March 9, Inner City Press asked about Cameroon, specifically the crackdown in the northwest and southwest of the country. Inner City Press asked, "On Cameroon, after the mission led by Corinne Delechat, what is the status of talks for a program, and since the IMF cited “civil unrest in the neighboring Central African Republic,” please state the IMF's awareness of civil unrest and arrests in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon, also known as the Anglophone areas, and their impact." Rice read out the question and then said, among other things, that the risk factors for 2017 include a continuation of the "social and political events" in the "so-called Anglophone" areas of Cameroon. Interim video here.  On IMF site, here, from 34:56. IMF transcript below.

  But a few hours later when Inner City Press asked the month's UN Security Council president Matthew Rycroft of the UK, who had just been in Cameroon, about the crisis, he said it is not a threat to international peace and security. From the UK transcript:

Inner City Press: In Cameroon there’s an issue that has been existing since November in Anglophone areas which have no internet for 52 days, there’s been teachers arrested, no schools. So I’m wondering as one Council member said, it did somehow come up in meetings, but was the issue raised at all, and what response was given by the government to this ongoing cut off of internet and abuse in this area?

Amb Rycroft: It came up informally in our contacts with members of the Government of Cameron but as far as I recall it did not come up in any formal meeting, and I think that makes sense because we were going there to look at the threat to international peace and security, and Boko Haram, and related issues, but in private, informal discussions with ministers in the Government of Cameroon it came up and they gave us the benefit of their perspective on the issue.

Inner City Press: Is there any Security Council role that can be played in trying to preventively deal with this issue?

Amb Rycroft: I don’t think it’s an issue on our agenda per se, we keep our eye on our radar across the world, but we have to make a judgement about whether something is a threat to international peace and security, and at the moment, I think our judgement would be that issue is an issue that is confined within Cameroon without international aspects.

  But the UN Resident Coordinator does nothing about it, says nothing, blocks the Press. Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: the answer you sent about Mr. [Francois] Louncény Fall saying that he would raise issues to the authorities.  Can you say whether the issue of the internet being off in two provinces for 52 days has been raised?  And, secondarily, I wanted to ask you this.  You announced from this podium that Najat Rochdi is going to Central African Republic as Resident Coordinator.  What's the process to appoint a new Resident Coordinator for the UN system in Cameroon?  And is it… is it… is it… can it be public in any way?  It seems many people have complained that, while she was there, she never raised the Anglophone issue.  And, in fact, I found that she blocks Inner City Press on Twitter, so I'm unable to ask her why this issue has not been raised.  But what's the process to replace… and you can smirk, but should a UN official in their official account…?

Spokesman:  That's an unrelated thing.  I mean, obviously, all people… all individuals, not even just all UN officials, are free to block whoever they want on Twitter.  That's within their rights.

Inner City Press:  Including missions?  So you think a peacekeeping mission should pick and choose which media can follow it?

Spokesman:  Organizations will respond… are supposed to respond to press requests.  Individuals can do whatever they like with their Twitter accounts.

Inner City Press:  What's the process of replacing the Resident Coordinator in Cameroon?

Spokesman:  It's the same as in any other place.  There's a process that goes… that you go through, and the Resident Coordinator's selection process is supervised by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). 

  This is at odds with the UN's claims to be transparent in its use of public money, and to be open to the press and impacted public, and will be pursued at Rochdi's next assignment at the UN in Central African Republic. But it raises the question: how are UN Resident Coordinators selected? Inner City Press reported on Ban Ki-moon's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee getting multiple promotion under Ban, including being named UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya by Ban himself. (Inner City Press was evicted by Ban's UN, and remains restricted under Ban's successor). But shouldn't Anglophone Cameroonians have some input into the UN's next Resident Coordinator in their country? This is a project for the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. Watch these sites and feeds.

From the IMF's March 9 transcript:

"There is a question of Cameroon, from Matthew Lee, "After the Mission what is the status of talks for a program; and since the IMF cited civil unrest in the neighboring Central African Republic, please state the IMF's awareness of civil unrest and arrests in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon? And also known as the Anglophone areas, and their impact?"

So, the background here is, I think important the context. So, the Fund's engagement here in the CEMAC Region, CEMAC is the six Central African Economic nations that comprise the Central African Economic and monetary community. They met in Yaoundé on December 23rd. The Managing Director was there. And in that meeting, heads of state discussed the economic situation, the severe shocks that have hit that CEMAC region in recent years, including the sharp decline in oil prices, and decided to act collectively and in a concerted manner. And the heads of state requested the assistance of the IMF to design economic reforms needed to reestablish macroeconomic stability in each country and in the region as a whole.

So, again, context: I can tell you that the funders already sent missions to Gabon, Republic of Congo. And a reminder to you, that we already have programs with Central African Republic and Chad. Okay?

Now, we also have sent a mission to Cameroon, which is the question. And we did issue a press statement, which the question referred to, just on Tuesday. That was the Corrine Delechat reference.

So, the specific question, to turn to that. We are indeed aware of the events in the so-called Anglophone regions of Cameroon. The macroeconomic impact of any event that could affect production and/or consumption, is typically felt with a certain lag. So, these events started in November last year, and thus are likely to have not had a significant impact on production in 2016.

For 2017, the risks to our growth outlook include a combination of external and domestic factors, including continuation of the sociopolitical events in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon. And as our press release the other day indicated, our view is that the medium-term outlook for the Cameroonian economy remains positive, subject to the implementation of appropriate policies."

We'll have more on this. Watch this site.