Serbia
PM
Answers ICP on
Voting, Asks
Kosovo
Journalist
Where
He's From
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 19 --
When Serbian
Prime Minister
Ivica Dacic
came
to speak with
the media
after
Tuesday's UN
Security
Council
session
about Kosovo,
only three
journalists
asked
questions.
Inner
City Press
asked why the
OSCE had taken
the ballot
boxes away,
and to
where. Dacic
said this will
be raised in
Brussels, as
it casts doubt
on the
results.
Dacic's
statement
to the Council
noted that
four
candidates
from the
Serbian
minority were
immediately
charged with
war crimes
once they
stepped
forward to
run. Inner
City Press
asked Dacic if
he might
suggest some
solution, such
as coming up
with a
comprehensive
list of war
crimes
suspects so
that charges
couldn't later
be brought as
a pretext
against
candidates.
Dacic's
answer,
translated,
referred to
"Albanian"
candidates who
are war
criminals.
The
third
questioner
asked about
discrimination
in Serbia.
Dacic asked
him, where are
you from?
From
here, he
replied.
America. Then
he added,
Kosovo
television RTV
21.
Kosovo
national
television.
Dacic
smiled, and
soon said, I
am here to
answer
questions, not
to hear
speeches or
your opinion.
The stakeout
was over.
A
larger crowd
gathered, to
discuss after
the fact if
this is
permissible.
The Free UN
Coalition for
Access has
questioned it.
In
the past, the
UN let France
limit a press
conference in
the UN
briefing room
to "French
journalists"
-- even making
one
journalist for
a pro-Western
newspaper in
Lebanon show
her passport.
More
recently, the
UN
affirmatively
let France
mark many of
the seats in
the new
briefing room
"Reserved" for
French
traveling
journalists.
Perhaps most
outrageously,
the UN has let
its Under
Secretary for
Peacekeeping
Operations
Herve Ladsous
openly refuse
to
answer any
answer from
Inner City
Press. Video
compilation
here; UK
coverage
here.
This
evening,
Ladsous takes
questions
outside of the
UN - an event
by RSVP
only for those
who have paid
dues money. An
inquiry as to
whether
even these can
bring a
non-dues
paying guest
was
conveniently
not
answered by
the deadline.
And so it goes
in and near
the UN. Watch
this site.
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