At
UNSG Guterres Presser, Inner
City Press Asks of Cameroon
& UN Bribery for CEFC, Here
By Matthew
Russell Lee, photos,
video
UNITED NATIONS,
January 16 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres held
a press conference on January
16, it was his first public
media question and answer
sessions at the UN in months.
Inner City Press arrived early
and kept its hand raised; as
the 14th questioner it was
able to ask Guterres about the
ongoing UN bribery case and
about ten abductions in
Nigeria by / for Cameroon,
which he visited in October.
On the latter, Guterres said
that the UN is active and has
gotten some people released.
This may be a reference to
Felix Aghbor Balla and others.
But what of those still held
in Nigeria, where as Inner
City Press pointed out his
deputy Amina J. Mohammed has
been for the past week? We'll
have more on this. On the UN
bribery indicted against
Cheikh Gadio and Patrick Ho of
the China Energy Fund
Committee, to benefit CEFC
China Energy which is still a
member of the UN Global
Compact, Guterres focused on
this part of the question,
saying he would look into the
Global Compact membership.
It's worth nothing that when
Ng Lap Seng was indicted in
2015 for UN bribery, his Sun
Kian Ip foundation was dropped
by the UN and money returned.
Here, UN DESA still used $1
million of CEFC even after the
indictment. As Guterres seems
not to know, the case and
Inner City Press' coverage has
been reported all over the
world, from China
to Uganda and Senegal to the Czech
Republic. We'll have
more on this as well. Here's
the UN's January 16 transcript:
Q: Matthew Lee, Inner City
Press, on behalf of the Free
UN Coalition for Access,
hoping for more question and
answer in 2018, as you
said. In November, there
was an indictment announced in
Federal Court downtown of the
head of an ECOSOC (Economic
and Social Council)-accredited
NGO for bribing, allegedly
bribing, the President of the
General Assembly, Sam Kutesa,
to benefit the China Energy
Fund Committee. And I wanted
to ask you, that remains still
in the Global Compact, and
there hasn't been even an
audit or anything created. Why
haven't you started an audit
in that case? Why is the
beneficiary of what's
described as bribery in the UN
still in the Global Compact?
And how do your reforms
preclude or make impossible
this type of bribery that's
now happened twice under John
Ashe, may he rest in peace,
and under Sam Kutesa? And,
also, on Cameroon, you
visited, I know, in late
October. Since then, some
Anglophone leaders have been
arrested or abducted in
Nigeria, where I know your
deputy was. I wanted to know
what the UN system is doing
about this now cross-border
problem. Thanks a lot.
Secretary-General: Well,
as a matter of fact, in
relation to that, we have done
several initiatives, and some
of them even led to the
release of people, and we will
go on engaging with all the
states involved. In relation
to other cases, I would like
to say that I'm not aware of
presence in the Compact or
whatever. I will have to look
into it. I will look into it.
What is clear for me is that
we don't want the Compact to
have companies that do not
abide by the set of principles
that were defined in the
constitution of the Compact.
There is a code of conduct
that is there, and that should
be respected. So, I don't know
exactly what happened in the
compact in that regard. I will
look into that." Back on June
20, 2107 when Guterres held a
press conference, it was his
first in UN headquarters since
he assumed office 168 days
ago. He took nearly 20
questions, including two from
Inner City Press, on the UN
having brought cholera to
Haiti, and sexual abuse by
peacekeepers in the UN Mission
in Central African Republic.
On
Haiti, he announced that he
was just today - minutes later
the announcement went out -
naming as his dollar-a-year
special envoy on Haiti Josette
Sheeran, formerly the director
of the UN World Food Program
and now the head of the Asia
Society. Video here.
Transcript here
and below. He seemed to say
the UN was never going to
compensate individuals or
families impacted by the
cholera the UN brought.
We'll have more
on this: Inner City Press will
be accompanying and covering,
in as much detail as possible,
the UN Security Council's
visit to Haiti from June 22 to
24 (a protest at the UN's
“logbase” is planned.)
On
sexual abuse in CAR, SG
Guterres said that before
making the announcement, the
Republic of Congo must be
told. Inner City Press asked
why the Burundi contingent is
not being repatriated after 25
rapes alleged by the UN OIOS.
He said there is a process.
The Security Council meets
about Burundi later on June
20, and Inner City Press will
cover it. Watch this site.
Footnote: on
behalf of the Free UN
Coalition for Access, to which
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric does NOT "lend"
the briefing room and which
has never and will never ask
for a journalist to be thrown
out or restricted, Inner
City Press urged Guterres to
more routinely take questions,
for example on his way in and
out of the Security Council.
We'll see.
From the UN's transcript:
Inner City Press:
Matthew Lee, Inner City Press.
On behalf of the Free UN
Coalition for Access, thanks
for the briefing. Glad to have
it. Stakeouts would also be
useful when you speak to the
Council. But I wanted to
ask you about cholera in
Haiti. As you may know, while
you were away, your deputy
gave... gave the speech, and
many people in Haiti
interpreted it as a... as a
pulling back from the idea of
compensating victims of the
cholera that was brought.
Maybe they misunderstand it,
but they put out a press
release. There's a protest
planned there on Thursday
during the Council's
visit. So I wanted to
ask you, I know that Member
States haven't come forward
with what they might have, but
are you going to put more time
in? Do you think that the idea
of actually compensating the
people whose family members
were killed by cholera is
still alive? And, also,
I'd understood that there was
going to be an announcement
about the Congo Brazzaville
contingent being
repatriated... being
repatriated from Central
African Republic. Is it going
to happen? And, if so, what's
the standard? Because
the Burundians were found to
have 25 soldiers accused by
OIOS (Office of Internal
Oversight Services) of sexual
abuse. Is there some... is
there a number or what
determines when people are
repatriated? Thanks a lot. I
appreciate it.
Secretary-General: First
of all, in relation to Haiti,
the policy that was announced
by my predecessor had two
dimensions. One is fighting
cholera, and the other is the
possibility to support,
namely, to support communities
impacted. It was devised, not
as individual support, but
community support for the
communities impacted. As
you mentioned, there has been
little voluntary funding for
these projects. So we have
presented a proposal for the
amounts that were not spent in
the previous mission in Haiti
and that should be given back
to countries, for countries to
be ready to accept not to
receive those amounts back in
order to be able to fund the
cholera programme. And,
at the same time, we have just
appointed Ms. Josette Sheeran
as my Special Envoy for Haiti,
centred, of course, in the
fundraising for cholera. She
was, as you know, the World
Food Programme leader a few
years ago. She is now
President of the Asia Society,
and she accepted, with a
salary of $1 per year, she
accepted to be fully engaged
in fundraising for a programme
that, indeed, until now, has
received very little support
but that is very important
from the point of view of the
people and from the point of
view of the credibility of the
UN. In relation to what
you mentioned, there is a
procedure that is now being
adopted systematically. That
procedure involves an
evaluation. That evaluation
was concluded in relation to
the Republic of Congo. There
is a necessary contact with
the authorities of the country
before a public announcement
of the measure. So I will ask
for a little bit of patience,
because you'll soon have the
public announcement of what we
have decided to do. But it
will be, I mean, impolite and
unacceptable in the context of
our bilateral relations before
a number of contacts that need
to be established with the
country to announce it.
This procedure will now be
applied across the board, and
it's an evaluation that is
done by a group of experts on
the situation. It depends on
the capacity of countries
to... even if something
happened to correct what has
happened or if we feel that
there are more systemic
failures that cannot be
addressed and that require the
withdrawal of the force we are
discussing.
***
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