At
UN,
Rudd Speaks of
Cutting Costs
While Paying
Overtime For
Stakeout
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 22
-- When
Australian
Foreign
Minister Kevin
Rudd
finally came
to the UN
Television
stakeout
position on
Thursday after
9 pm, he was
asked about
Prime Minister
Gillard urging
him to spend
less as he
travels
overseas.
Rudd
replied that
while in New
York he will
stay in the
country's
residence
rather than
a hotel, and
that he does
that in many
other places
including
Washington and
London.
He
said he makes
"no apologies"
for
frequent
travel, given
for example
that he has
interlocutors
in
Jerusalem and
Ramallah,
Paris and
Beijing.
What
Inner City
Press learned
while waiting
for Rudd to
appear,
however, is
that
Australia
agreed to pay
a
"substantial"
extra amount
to
keep the UN TV
stakeout open,
after the UN
General Debate
was over
for the day.
Rudd's
stakeout
was supposed
to be at 6 pm,
but no one but
the UN TV crew
was there.
Inner City
Press tweeted
it, and went
to work on a
story about
Palestine.
Then the UN
said Rudd
would speak at
the stakeout
at 8:30
pm. This too
did not
happen. After
Rudd spoke in
the General
Assembly and
then that
closed, after
one more
speaker, still
Rudd did
not appear.
A
Rudd staffer
cited
health
concerns, his
recent heart
attack, for
the reason.
Long time
UN hands
wondered aloud
where Rudd
could be,
since
everything was
closed or
closing in the
UN. There was
discussion of
Australia
having agreed
to pay extra
for this
delay.
Perhaps
for this
too there is
no need to
make
apologies. But
perhaps not.
Rudd on
Sept 22 and
the microphone
he paid
(overtime)
for, (c) MLee
Inner
City Press
asked Rudd
about
Australia's
vote in the
General
Assembly on a
resolution to
give Palestine
Observer State
status (he
answered long
but without a
yes, no or
abstain) and
about Sri
Lanka, which
we'll
report on
separately.
Watch this
site.
* * *
At
UN,
Deby On TNC's
"Hypocrisy, "
400,000
Chadians
"Blocked" in
Libya, "No
Prisoners in
Chad"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 19
-- Chad's
President
Idriss Deby
told Inner
City Press on
Monday that
there remain
400,000
Chadian's
"blocked"
inside Libya.
He
said the vast
majority had
gone to Libya
to work. Some
had been
recruited to
fight but by
both sides, he
insisted,
Gaddafi and
the National
Transitional
Council.
He said that
going forward
the
international
community
should help
reconcile all
Libyans,
"including
those who
worked with
Gaddafi." Video here, 1st part
of interview.
Deby
accused the
leaders of the
"New Libya,"
the National
Transitional
Council, of
hypocrisy as
many of them
previously
worked with
Gaddafi. He
said there
should be
greater
African Union
involvement in
the New Libya,
and chafed at
Inner City
Press'
statement that
South Africa
has led on
that issue,
and on that of
African
migrants.
"There
are other
African
countries on
the Security
Council," he
said, naming
Gabon and then
Nigeria.
Inner
City Press
asked Deby for
his view of
developments
in Sudan. Deby
spoke of
Southern
Kordofan and
"Nil Bleu,"
Blue Nile,
then said that
much remains
to be solved
between North
and South
Sudan.
On
this, Inner
City Press
asked Deby to
respond to reports
that the
publication
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo was
told not to
compare South
Sudan to
Southern Chad:
"In
the
October 14 to
17 edition of
the local
newspaper
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo, the
publishers
included an
article
comparing
southern Sudan
with southern
Chad. The
prime minister
called the
article
'dangerous'
and asked the
HCC to act on
the matter. On
October 19,
the HCC met
with
journalists
and warned
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo in
particular and
all media
houses in
general to
"observe
ethics rules"
by not
printing
articles that
risked
inciting
hatred,
violence, or
separatist
sentiment."
Deby
said he didn't
know about the
case. He said
"come to Chad"
to see the
freedom of the
press, and
also said that
"there are no
political
prisons in
Chad." Inner
City Press
began to ask
of one example
-- Ibni
Oumar Mahamat
Saleh --
but Deby
didn't answer
on it.
Deby and the
author, smiles
on Libya,
other answers
not show
The
interview was
over, and
Inner City
Press left the
Plaza Hotel.
Deby will
speak before
the General
Assembly on
Friday, after
meeting with
Ban Ki-moon
the day
before. "Mais
vous savez de
tout,"
Deby said. Not
as much as
we'd like to.
Watch this
site.
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