As
US Pompeo Meets Norway FM
Soreide Contrast to UNSG
Guterres Censorship UNacted On
By Juul
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR PFT CEFC
Video
UN
GATE, Nov 13 – The day after US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
met with Norway's foreign
minister on November 12, his
spokesperson Morgan Ortagus
issued this read-out: "Secretary
Michael R. Pompeo met yesterday
with Norwegian Foreign Minister
Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide in
Washington, D.C. Secretary
Pompeo and Foreign Minister
Søreide spoke about preparations
for the upcoming NATO Leaders
Meeting. They also
discussed defense cooperation,
the Arctic, and global security
issues, including in Afghanistan
and Syria. The Secretary
thanked Foreign Minister Søreide
for Norway’s excellent
partnership in promoting peace
worldwide."
Contrast the above with
UNSG Guterres' Norway meeting,
already hindering Inner City
Press' coverage in January 2018
before having it roughed up on
July 3 and banned since.
Guterres is the origin of the
ban; states like Norway have
seen and yet done nothing.
Specifically, Mona Juul to whom
the ban has been raised, as head
of ECOSOC, has not yet done
anything. She should.
When UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres met Norway's
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen
Søreide on January 12, it came
the morning after US President
Donald Trump's reported comments
contrasting Norway to "sh*thole"
countries. So Inner City Press
came to cover their meeting or
at least the photo op. On the
way, UN Security officers
repeatedly told Inner City Press
there would be a problem with
its practice of live-streaming
Periscope video, or more
specifically, audio. On the 37th
floor, Inner City Press pointed
out that UNTV runs audio. But
they're official, was the reply,
I'm only telling you what I've
been told to say. (Higher-ups
from the Department of Public
Information of Alison Smale have
issued Kafka-esque threats, here.) Still Inner
City Press was not stopped from
taking its microphone up to the
38th floor. The photo op began
almost immediately, Periscope
here, and Guterres after
shepherding Soreide from grin
and grin to sign-in book, sat at
his conference table and said,
"Thank you very much." It was
over. It was said that Soreide
would made remarks, perhaps
about Trump's comments but it
did not happen, at least in
Guterres' conference room.
Coming up as Inner City Press
was hurried out were Guterres'
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, and Guterres' adviser,
previously the French mission's
legal adviser, Tanguy Stehelin.
As of the time of the photo op,
the UN's only response had been
by lame-duck Human Rights
Commission Prince Zeid, who has
relatedly been quiet on the UN's
abuses in Haiti, and Nigeria's
abduction of leaders of Southern
Cameroons / Ambazonia. But
that's another story. Back on
December 18 when Guterres met
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert
Fico, he joked that Fico must
have stopped in to see the
President of the General
Assembly, fellow Slovak Miroslav
Lajcak. Less funny, but as yet
unacted on by Guterres, is the
November 20 indictment of
Senegal's former foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio, along
with Patrick Ho of China Energy
Fund Committee, in a case
alleging bribery of Lajcak's
predecessor as UN PGA Sam
Kutesa, as well as Chad's
Idriss Deby. Guterres has not
even initiated an audit in
response to this UN bribery
indictment. As to Fico, given
his recent statements on Libya,
one can only imagine what a read
out of his meeting with Guterres
would say. Guterres has stopped
issuing read-outs, another cut
back in transparency. On the way
up to the photo op, Inner City
Press witness several gift
distributors, from bottles of
liquor to envelopes, as well as
recently built partition walls
on the 30th floor being torn
down, in a classic example of UN
waste. (See Inner City Press
exclusive story, here.)
The UN under Guterres has become
even more corrupt, and less
transparent. Not only is the
investigative Press restricted,
more so than no show state media
like Egypt's Akhbar al Yom
(given Inner City Press' long
time office but not even present
for the day's vote on Egypt's
Jerusalem resolution) - on the
37th floor, UN Security made a
point of re-checking Inner City
Press' badge, then of closing
the door to the conference room
on 38 so that whoever was coming
out of Guterres' office could
not be seen. Who was it? Watch
this site. Back on November 9
when Guterres met Turkey's
PMBinali Yildirim, the Turkish
delegation brought their own
security officers to the photo
op. Periscope video here.
Guterres had finished a long
afternoon, calling Kenya's
Ambassador "sincerely unfair"
down in Conference Room 2, and
taking photos with UN Police
down in the basement. In between
he'd come up to meet Sri Lanka's
Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga, Chairperson of the
Office for National Unity and
Reconciliation a day after Inner
City Press asked about torture
by that country's army. Before
that, Jeffrey Feltman who has
played a role in the rift
between Guterres and Kenya was
in Guterres' office, then by the
elevators. Will there be a
memoir? After the Turkish photo
op, mixed results in the
International Court of Justice
voting. Lebanon's Nawaf Salam
won a seat, but India's Bhandari
and UK Greenwood will fight
another round on Monday. Only at
the UN. Back on November 7 when
Guterres met Argentina's
President Mauricio Macri on
November 7, Macri had come from
the site of the recent terrorist
attack on the West Side Highway
bike path. Guterres has just
returned from three days in
Lisbon, justified by a 15-minute
speech. In Guterres' team to
meet Macri was fellow Argentine
Virginia Gamba, previously on
Syria chemical weapons. Down in
the Security Council, her
successor Edmond Mulet was being
asked questions he didn't answer
(Inner City Press / Alamy photos
of Nikki Haley and Syria's
Ja'afari at the meeting, here.)
Somewhere on the 38th floor
Guterres' Deputy Amina Mohammed
was holding two meeting, while
her office (and Guterres'
spokespeople) never answered a
simple Press question for a copy
of a speech she gave at a
$25,000 a sponsor fundraiser.
Inner City Press, already
subject to a Kafka-esque
threat to accreditation by
Guterres' head of Global
Communications Alison Smale for
using Periscope during photo
op(s) on the 38th floor, was
surveilled as it prepared to
Periscope. Thus it missed what
others captured: Guterres'
personal back pad being put in
his chair, him walking by with
notes for the Macri meeting.
This is today's UN. On
November 3 Guterres
accepted the credentials of El
Salvador's new Ambassador Ruben
Armando Escalante Hasbun on
November 1, a successor to
Carlos Garcia who was exposed as
having helped money laundering
in the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
UN bribery trial in July 2017.
Under Guterres, these practices
continue - in fact, Guterres has
become even less transparent.
For example, on November 3 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who
had just cut short Inner City
Press' questions about Guterres'
inaction on the killings by the
Cameroon government, these
questions: "is the Secretary
General having a one-on-one
lunch on 38th floor today? is it
with a journalist / editor? is
it on or off the record? why
isn't this lunch on the SG's
public schedule? is it with
Gillian Tett?" Dujarric's and
the UN's answer on this: "I have
nothing to say to the SG’s
schedule that’s not public." So
Guterres decides which meeting
are not public. Inner City Press
has asked: "On the lunch, the
question is WHY it is not
public. Can it be considered
"internal"?" Watch this site. On
October 31 Guterres met Human
Rights Council president Joaquin
Alexander Maza Martelli, saying
"Bienvenido" repeatedly before
ushering the Press to leave:
essentially, Adios. That's what
the Trump administration is
considering saying to the UN
Human Rights Council, now after
the election of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the
Council. The UN Secretariat has
its own human rights problems.
Not only impunity for sexual
abuse by peacekeepers and
bringing cholera to Haiti, not
only praising and accepting gift
from human rights abusers like
Cameroon's Paul Biya, but also
for example disparate treatment
and retaliatory restrictions on
the investigative Press.
Guterres has not reversed this.
In fact, on October 20 his
Department of Public Information
under Alison Smale issued a
further threat to Inner City
Press' accreditation, citing an
undefined violation at a
stakeout just like that on
October 31. This threat comes
just as Inner City Press pursues
Team Gutereres inaction on the
killings in Cameroon. Guterres
met French foreign minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian on October
30, three days after he took an
award from Cameroon's
French-supported president Paul
Biya. Inner City Press came
early for the photo op but was
delayed, then hindered. . But
Inner City Press belatedly went,
and although DPI's Kafka-esque
theats made it suspend the
Periscope, it can report that
with Guterres were his pro-Biya
adviser Khassim Diagne, and
former French mission legal
adviser (an office in the orbit
of Beatrice Le Frapeur du
Hellen, Inner City Press scoop
here). Under DPI's censorship
orders, we'll wait to report
more, including on the push to
get the US to pay for the G5
Sahel force - except what was in
plain sight, Guterres' personal
back rest being installed in his
chair. Guterres met Spain's
Secretary of State Ildefonso
Castro López on October 16,
hours after Spain won a seat on
the UN Human Rights Council with
no mention of its crackdown in
Catalonia. Guterres has also
been scheduled to meet the
foreign minister of Togo Robert
Dussey just before, but that
meeting or at least photo op got
canceled, as did a stakeout by
Guterres that UNTV had been
setting up for in the morning.
As Inner City Press has
exclusively reported,
Guterres or his Global
Communications chief aim to make
this upcoming trip to Central
African Republic a litmus test
of how to present the UN in a
positive light - despite the
sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
We'll have covering, rather than
covering up, that. On October 12
Guterres belatedly swore in
three senior official on October
12: Vladimir Voronkov, USG for
Counter-Terrorism, Izumi
Nakamitsu, High Representative
for Disarmament, and Mark
Lowcock, Emergency Relief
Coordinator. Photos of each here.
Inner City Press arrived early
for the photo op, but found
itself in a long line with
tourists at the metal detectors
on 45th Street. Because it
covered UN bribery of John Ashe
and Ng Lap Seng, it was evicted
and now is slowed in entering,
confined to minders once in. But
up on the 38th floor the head of
UN Security greeted the incoming
trio, particularly the UN Relief
Chief. He was candid on Yemen;
Ms. Nakamitsu's
office only
sends out
information
selectively.
Jeffrey
Feltman was
not there,
apparently on
his way to
Myanmar. There
is still no non-interim Special
Adviser on Africa. We'll have
more on this. On October 9 Inner
City Press went to cover
Guterres' meeting with
Bangladesh's Finance Minister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. Present
for the meeting - the UN side,
notably, was all men, photo here
- was UN Elections. After being
quickly ushered out, in the
elevator down was Darrin Farrant
of the UN Department of Public
Information, who more than a
month ago when asked provide the
email address of his new boss,
Alison Smale. But petitions to
Smale about unjustifiable
restrictions on Press have gone
unanswered; some from Cameroon
have noted not only Smale
“inordinate” focus on her former
beat, Germany, on Catalonia, but
also her DPI's lawless
restrictions on the Press. She
was not present on October 12,
instead DPI was represented by
Maher "It's
all about you" Nasser, who
refused
to reverse his previous boss'
censorship when he was in
charge. On October 9 to stakeout
the General Assembly meeting
Inner City Press was required to
get a DPI escort, unlike other
no-show state media like Akhbar
al Yom which DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' office,
which sit empty. At the noon
briefing, Inner City Press asked
for a read out of the Bangladesh
meeting (four hours later, none
has been provided), and again
for a read out of the
Philippines meeting ten days
before on September 29. That day
at noon Guterres' spokesman,
when Inner City Press asked
whether there would be any
action on UN staff in Myanmar
describing retaliation by UN
Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessalien, said only that
Guterres stands behind
Lok-Dessalien. So much for
whistleblower protection. On
Cameroon, Guterres' belated
concern is not about killed
civilians, but "territorial
integrity." Then for a 2:45 pm
photo op of Guterres and
Philippines foreign minister
Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Inner
City Press arrived hte
prescribed half hour early. It
was screened and then told to
wait, even after 2:45 pm. When
it was allowed into the
conference room, the handshake
had already taken place.
Dujarric, seen on 37, had
earlier refused to answer Inner
City Press' questions about UN
Security surveillance camera(s)
over the UN media bullpen, or
safeguards on the use of the
footage. This is Guterres' UN.
After Guterres grip and grin
sessions on the UN's 27th floor
during UN General Assembly high
level week, his meetings and
photo ops on September 27 with
the foreign ministers of Eritrea
and Iran were back on the 38th
floor, with USg Jeff Feltman at
both meetings. Both countries
are subject to sanctions; Iran's
Javad Zarif was on his way to
speak at the Asia Society. He
entered jauntily.
Here are Inner City
Press' Alamy photos of the new
Ambassadors of Ecuador
(Diego Fernando Morejon Pazmino), Norway,
Guinea
Bissau (Fernando Delfim Da
Silva) and Iraq
(Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom). The UN is getting
more and more murky; Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric has
refused to say how NGO(s)
purchasing an event in the UN
General Assembly Hall on August
23 were vetted, even after the
Ng bribery verdict. On August 18
Guterres said that the UN's
principles are those of
humanity; he made much of
Miroslv Jenca being from
Slovakia. Meanwhile his
spokesman wouldn't confirm that
Jenca's colleague Taye-Brook
Zerihoun is leaving, to be
replaced by Kenya's Monica Juma.
We'll have more on this. There
were: Gabon PR Michel Xavier
Biang, Lithuania PR Audra
Plepytë, Slovakia PR Michal
Mlynár, Slovenia PR Darja Bavdaž
Kuret, NZ PR Craig John Hawke,
Ireland PR Geraldine Byrne
Nason, PR, Ireland and
Francophonie PO Narjess Saidane.
On August 16 Guterres schmoozed
correspondents about Croatia and
his vacation; after a stakeout
in which he refused
to comment on the Ng Lap Seng
verdict, photos here,
he had a 4:30 pm photo op with
meeting with Serbian Foreign
Minister Ivica Dacic. Photos on
Alamy here;
Inner City Press Periscope here;
it was the only media there
other than a lone Serbian
cameraman. Guterres called Dacic
young and the latter replied
that he is 51. Then the press
was ushered out. Before Dacic
arrived, Guterres squired out a
duo who was not on his schedule.
As noted, a diplomat complained
Guterres is "just bringing in
people he knew in Geneva,
nothing new, no improvements."
On Press freedom, Inner City
Press must concur: it remains
restricted for covering now
convicted Ng Lap Seng's bribes;
the Egyptian state media the UN
is trying to give its office
wasn't even present for Egypt's
August 2 press conference, has
never asked a question. And on
transparency: the sources said
seven day, but when Inner City
Press asked Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on
July 31, Dujarric said for two
week, Guterres will be "in
Europe." Periscope video here.
He is on leave, on vacation. On
August 1, Dujarric repeatedly
said the Secretary General
thinks this, feels that - and
Inner City Press asked, how do
you know? At briefings in
Washington reporters routinely
ask, did you speak with your
principle about X, Y or Z. But
the UN feels it doesn't have to
answer. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: in the answers
you were giving about the
Secretary-General believes this
on Venezuela, thinks this, can…
given what you have said
yesterday about his schedule, is
this based on, is this a DPA
statement, is it actually
something they run by him, how
does it work?
Spokesman: It works that
it comes out of my mouth.
That’s how it works. Next
question. Next question.
Yes, we will have more
questions. On July 31, Inner
City Press asked if there is any
press pool - no - and if
Dujarric will at least in the
future announce week-long
absences by Guterres in advance.
Dujarric did not say yes (he
did, however, repeat that claim
that the UN was the victim in
its corruption case, saying that
Yiping Zhou is gone. But what
about Navid Hanif, who went
to Macau? What about Meena
Sur, who helped
Ng? Both of them, and
others involved, are still in
the UN). This lack of
transparency stands in contrast
to the executive branch in
Washington and even New York
routinely disclosing travel
including vacation travel. But
the UN has no press protections
either - Guterres has been asked.
Meanwhile his spokespeople says
the UN should get paid for the
UNreformed corruption shown in
the Ng trial and verdict. We'll
have more on this. When UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on July 27 had a brief
meeting with Qatar's Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar
state media and other UN based
photographers went up. Alamy
photos here.
There were complaints how short
the handshake was; Inner City
Press noted that on the UN side
of the table were only four
people, all men, including
Jeffrey Feltman. Periscope video
here.
Guterres was scheduled to be at
another meeting in 25 minutes
time. So will the UN help solve
the stand-off in the Gulf? It
seems unlikely. The UN never
answered Inner City Press'
questions of if Feltman had
visited Saudi Arabia and if not,
why not. Back on July 19
Guterres.had a meeting and photo
op with Spain's Foreign Minister
Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo.
Inner City Press went to cover
it, Alamy photos here,
Periscope video here
including of whether Dastis
should write "una poema"
in the UN visitors' book. Inner
City Press barely arriving on
time due to the crowd of
tourists at the UN's visitors
entrance. It has been this way
since Spain's now-gone Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press
evicted from and still
restricted at the UN after Inner
City Press asked
her about attending indicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng's South South Awards, and
allowing Ng fundees improper
events in the UN. Although
Guterres did not continue
Gallach's contract - she lobbied
to stay, but failed - her
negative impacts are still in
evidence. The Spanish Mission to
the UN, now off the Security
Council, likewise did nothing to
reign Gallach in. But surely
they are lobbying Guterres to
get another Under Secretary
General position, even as their
Fernando Arias Gonzalez runs
against six others to head the
Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons. We'll have
more on this. The day before on
July 18 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op with the Dominican
Republic's Foreign Minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Alamy
photos here,
Periscope video here);
it came one day after in the UN
bribery case against Ng Lap Seng
a video of then then-President
Leonel
Fernandez
Reyna visiting
South South
News near the
UN was
discussed.
That video is
here.
South South
News was a
bribery
conduit, its
funds used for
gambling by
Dominican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Francis
Lorenzo in Las
Vegas and
Atlantic City
while the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
let SSN's
content into
UNTV archives
and let Ng
fundees have
impermissible
events in the
UN. On July
18, Guterres'
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
yes or no
questions
about South
South News and
the UN. After
the July 18
photo op,
Inner City
Press had
nowhere to
edit - for
seeking to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in
pursuing the
UN / SSN
corruption
story, Inner
City Press was
evicted and still
restricted.
And in the DR
there are
protests about
corruption. So
what did the
minister and
Guterres
discuss?
Haiti? These
days there are
no read-outs
at the UN.
On July 13 Guterres had a
meeting and photo op (Periscope
here)
with Estonia's President Kersti
Kaljulaid, listed in the
country's delegation was the
coordinator of its run for a
Security Council seat, Margus
Kolga, previously the country's
UN ambassador. Of the run, he
has said "there are very many
small nations. We are a small
nation which came out from under
occupation. We may serve as
example to them, that this is
possible and that a small nation
has another perspective on the
world which needs to be
represented at the council. Most
nations have spent far above the
million we intend to." At least
that is transparent. By
contrast, Guterres' UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric earlier on
July 13 refused
to answer Inner City
Press' questions about the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe (RIP) UN
bribery case, and even declined
to answer Inner City Press'
question about member states
asking (it)
whether Guterres will produce
any document on reform prior to
his July 22 retreat. So much for
We the Peoples. But hello in the
Security Council, it would seem,
Estonia. Dujarric has repeatedly
refused to provide a list of who
works on Guterres' 38th floor;
by eye Inner City Press noticed
former French Mission legal
adviser Tanguy Stehelin.
Seconded? Dujarric has not
answered. We'll have more on
this. On July 12 when Guterres
swore in six UN officials (some
of them simply being
re-shuffled), Inner City Press
went to cover it. While Guterres
swore in Olga Algayerova as
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic Commission for Europe,
the mobile phone seemingly of
Miroslav Jenca went off with a
loud BBC news bulletin about
Donald Trump Jr and Russia.
Periscope video here.
Achim Steiner was installed as
head of the UN Development
Program, at the very time that
UNDP is losing control of the
Resident Coordinator system to
Gutteres' and Amina J.
Mohammed's Secretariat. More
seriously, when the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe prosecution
continues in Federal court in
lower Manhattan, there are been
few reforms at the UN. There is
still a lack of transparency,
and business people buying their
way in a Ng did through the UN
Department of Public Information
under Cristina Gallach. As Inner
City Press covered it, Gallach
had Inner City Press evicted and
still restricted; the acting
head of DPI, Maher Nasser, has
done nothing to reverse it.
There is still no new Special
Adviser on Africa - Inner City
Press is told that an Angolan
turned it down - and the new
head of OCHA, Mark Lowcock,
doesn't start until September.
The UN must reform. Also sworn
in on July 12 were UN veteran
Jan Beagle,
Under-Secretary-General for
Management; able former Iraqi
Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim,
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic and Social Commission
for Western Asia; Namvamanee
Ratna Patten,
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
on Sexual
Violence in
Conflict; JIM
veteran Virginia Gamba, as
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children
and Armed Conflict (as Yemen was
the topic in the Security
Council.) On July 10 Guterres
has a photo op with Colombia's
Foreign Minister Maria Angela
Holguin Cuellar. It was supposed
to be in his office in UN
Headquarters at 4:30 pm. But on
little notice he moved it to his
- make that, the UN and the
public's - mansion on Sutton
Place and 57th Street, at 4 pm.
Inner City Press jumped on the
city bus up First Avenue,
broadcasting a Periscope video
about the change, when suddenly
it was urged
to stop broadcasting by a
board member of the UN
Correspondents Association,
which Guterres' deputy spoke
before last week and whose
former president Giampaolo
Pioli's Hampton's gratiuty-fest
the UN acting head of Public
Information Maher
Nasser attended, the UN
Censorship Alliance. This is
today's UN. Still, up on Sutton
Place UN Security brought up a
sniffing dog in a UN 4x4, and
two quick photos were allowed
before Guterres escorted Holguin
onto "his" elevator. Back
at the UN, the door to the UN
Security Council stakeout was
locked, and the turnstile where
targeting Inner City Press' ID
pass no longer works was guarded
by new UN Security who didn't
even recognize the UN minder.
Still, we got this
Periscope, despite UN censorship
which continues. Much later at
8:30 pm, Guterres' holdover
spokesman issued this.
Will there be reform?
On July 5 Guterres had as a
series of five credential photo
ops on July 5, Inner City Press
Periscoped all of them, with a
particular eye on Zambia and
Mauritania. Zambia's returning
Permanent Representative Lazarus
Kapambwe gave the greeting of
his president; one wondered if
in the ten minute closed door
meeting that followed the
continued lock-up of opposition
figure HH was raised. (Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
about it, with only vague
generalities resulting).
Mauritania, Guterres called "un
pillier" (just as he ten minutes
later called Moldova a pillar) -
but did Western Sahara, on which
there has been no UN envoy for
some time, come up? Moldova's
past Permanent Representative
moved in the South South News
world of Ng Lap Seng, now on
trial for UN bribery, although
that may have been in his
"personal capacity." And last
was South Centre, which is
testifying this week to the
World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose director
Francis Gurry's retaliation and
patent work for North Korea
Guterres has apparently not
raised with him. Guterres was
slated to present reform plans
at 11 am, but in the Ecosoc
Chamber which evicted and
restricted Inner City Press is
required to seek a minder to
cover, unlike other less
interested media like Egypt's
state Akhbar al Yom. This is
today's - and now Guterres' -
UN. Inner City Press' Haiti
questions remain unanswered,
among with Cameroon, the Rif and
more. Guterres will hold a press
conference on June 20 - Inner
City Press asked his spokesman
to confirm all topics are on the
table. He said yes. We'll see.
Guterres swore in three new
officials on June 7, Inner City
Press went to the photo op
(photos here)
and small ceremony, which
included reclusive
head of UN Peacekeeping
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN's
head of Information Technology,
Atul Khare and Miroslav Jenca,
previously head of the UN's
office in Turkmenistan. It's to
there that Guterres tonight
takes off on his most recent
trip, amid crises in the Gulf
and elsewhere, UN failures in
Cameroon and Yemen, and
continuing Press censorship and
lack of reform. Guterres swore
in Ursula Mueller as Assistant
Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy
Emergency Relief Coordinator in
the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (she's
already been on the job for 100
days, she said); Fekitamoeloa
Katoa Utoikamanu on Tonga,
Under-Secretary-General and High
Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked
Developing Countries and Small
Island Developing States; and
Alexander Zuev as Assistant
Secretary-General for Rule of
Law and Security Institutions.
With him, Guterres hearkened
back to his interview, and said
thank you in Russian. Periscope
video here.
As to the still unfilled
Department of Public Information
post vacated by corrupt
censor Cristina Gallach,
Inner City Press is informed of
interviewees currently based in
Paris and Geneva. It is not or
should not be a system run
without rules by the top person,
but rather one in which the
media have due process and
appeals rights, and retaliatory
action are reversed. Flier
here.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2018 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
