By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 1 --
The UN under
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, his
head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
and his
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
hit a new low
on August 1.
After
refusing
without
explanation to
disclose which
units of the
Congolese Army
the UN is
supporting,
the only way
to assess
Ban's claimed
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy,
Nesirky
refused to
allow Inner
City Press to
ask any more
questions. Video here.
Nesirky
allowed
two rounds of
questions to
numerous
others,
including for
example Pamela
Falk the 2013
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
But even after
providing UN
spin about
Ladsous'
controversial
contract for
drones or
UAVs, Nesirky
refused Inner
City Press any
second round
of questions.
On
drones, Inner
City Press has
covered member
states'
concerns about
Ladsous'
proposal;
several UN
officials have
asked Inner
City Press to
stop linking
Ladsous to
drones. On
July 31 at the
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
with whom
Ladsous signed
the drone
contract.
Nesirky said
that was not
public.
Twenty
four hours
later, rather
than e-mailing
the answer to
Inner City
Press as his
Office does
with others,
Nesirky waited
until the noon
briefing to
read out the
name of the
winner (Selex
ES of Italy
with its Falco
drone) -- and
then cut off
Inner City
Press' follow
up questions.
On
July 31, Inner
City Press
said it had a
question about
Mali, which
Nesirky didn't
allow. On
August 1 he
belatedly
disclosed what
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked: that
Nigeria is
pulling troops
out of
Ladsous'
MINUSMA
mission there.
Nesirky
has
still not
provided
simple answers
to whether
Ban's Cyprus
envoy
Alexander
Downer has a
conflict,
running to
head the South
Australian
Liberal Party.
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky's
outgoing
deputy Eduardo
Del Buey about
the UN
giving a big
room, S-310,
to UNCA for
briefing
publicized
only to those
which pay it
money, and why
the Department
of Public
Information
gave "P" Press
pesses to UNCA
interns,
while threatening
the
accreditation
of other
journalists.
Neither
question has
been answered.
Watch this
site.
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