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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NYP

UNITED NATIONS GATE, July 9 –Cameroon's government is so corrupt that today a minister was so designated, see below. But UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres took the country's corrupt 37 year president's golden statue and budget favors at the UN, and had Inner City Press which asked about it and him roughed up and banned now 371 days from entering the UN. Now this: "The Secretary of State is publicly designating the Republic of Cameroon Inspector General of the Cameroonian Gendarmerie, Colonel Jean Claude Ango Ango, due to his involvement in significant corruption related to wildlife trafficking.  This designation is made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2019 (Div. F, P.L. 116-6) (“Section 7031(c)”).  Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.   The law also requires the Secretary of State to publicly or privately designate such officials and their immediate family members.  In addition to the designation of Mr. Ango Ango, the Secretary is also publicly designating Mr. Ango Ango’s spouse, Ms. Engono Akomo.  Today’s action sends a strong signal that the United States is committed to fighting corruption and combating the transnational crime of wildlife trafficking to preserve our world’s iconic species."

  After Paul Biya who has ruled Cameroon for 37 years on January 28 had his opponent Maurice Kamto arrested, Inner City Press again asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and his spokesmen for their comment and action, if any. This came after Guterres had Inner City Press roughed up on 3 July 2018 after it interviewed Biya's Ambassador about the two men's Budget Committee deals and banned from the UN since - Guterres even tried to get Inner City Press banned from the Park East Synagogue, here, which was denied / dodged by his French spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who put up then took down a podcast in which he brags about his "mutually assured destruction" relationship with journalists, here.

  After Guterres on June 28 tried to erase his failure and failure of credibility on Cameroon by embracing an attempt to mediate by Switzerland, in Geneva Swiss police used tear gas against protesters of Biya's corruption, right in front of the UN. Given Guterres' track records, perhaps it was this that he was welcoming.

Then even the Swiss police arrested for roughing up a journalist six of Biya's guards - in the way the NYPD has yet to act on Guterres' abusive guards Ronald E. Robbins, who roughed up Inner City Press after it questioned Cameroon's ambassador here, and others who didn't give their names, here. 

On July 4 six members of the Cameroonian president's security staff have been given suspended prison sentences in Switzerland over an attack on a journalist, the Geneva prosecution authority said Thursday.  The six — five men and a woman — “have been criminally convicted”, the Geneva attorney-general's office said... The journalis filed a criminal complaint stating he was assaulted by a group of men outside Geneva's luxury Intercontinental Hotel, where Biya is believed to have been staying since June 23.  He said he had been filming a clash between about a dozen demonstrators against Cameroon's 86-year-old president and members of the president's security detail, when they attacked him and grabbed his equipment, wallet and phone.  He was slightly injured in the assault and his possessions were damaged.  The attack spurred Bern to summon Cameroon's ambassador last week, describing the incident as “unacceptable” and adding “freedom of the press is protected and must be respected."

  Guterres does not agree. This contrasts with the total impunty for Guterres' guards including Lt Ronald E. Dobbins - now there is a "new" head of security, now in charge of a banned listing that is entirely political - we'll have more on this. Guterres and Biya are peas in a pod - but Guterres gets over in NY and in the USA, for now, instead of being jailed like Patrick Ho.

 Meanwhile at least among some Swiss parliamentarians, Biya is no longer welcome:   Sylvain Thévoz, Parliamentarian at the Geneva council launched a petition on Wednesday to declare Biya persona no grata because Biya's body guards assaulted a Swiss journalist at the Intercontinental hotel where Paul Biya stays for $40,000 a day, case. The Parliamentarian says the continuous stay of Paul Biya in Switzerland is "a slap in the face of human rights advocates and a humiliation to the city of Geneva." Perhaps Thévoz should be the mediator. And Guterres should be declared non grata, as he has humilitiated the UN, if that's even possible anymore...

Inner City Press live tweeted the shameful UNSC session and uploaded Fall's failing statement here.

  More here.

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