On
Syria
Complaint
Against Galbraith,
Conflicting
Reports of AFP
& Reuters
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 6, updated
-- In Syria
news-product,
two wire
services and
their
customers on
January 5
reported they
have seen or obtained
a December 24
letter to the
Security
Council, here,
complaining of
unauthorized
visits by
Bernard
Kouchner, John
McCain and another
American named
Galbraith.
Agence France
Presse, and customers
such as Al
Arabiya,
call him David
Galbraith, and
say the letter
is dated
December 24.
But the former
US official,
who has even
appeared on
France 24
about Syria,
is PETER
Galbraith.
Reuters, which
has that name
but says
the letter is
dated December
30,
doesn't
mention Galbraith's
litigation
about his
claimed
personal
economic
interest in
Kurdistan oil.
News consumers
might want to
know, no?
Update:
the letter
clearly says
PETER Galbraith,
and contrary to
what Reuters
reported that
it "saw," is
dated December
24. See
here.
And
"David"
Galbraith
in AFP, and
Reuters'
incorrect
date, will
they ever be
corrected?
These two
wires appeared
later in late
December --
the day of
Syrian Ambassador
Ja'afari's
letter or not?
-- on the
story of
Sudan's move
to expel two
UN officials.
Amid
charges that
the UN in
Sudan,
including
Herve Ladsous'
UN
Peacekeeping
in Darfur, has
colluded with
the
authorities in
Khartoum to
cover up rapes
and killing,
now the UN's
Resident
Coordinator
Ali Al Za'tari
has been
ordered to
leave Sudan by
January 2,
Inner City
Press first
reported
earlier today.
Inner City
Press
similarly exclusively
reported,
and asked
the UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about,
Sudan's ouster
of UNDP
Country
Director
Yvonne Heller
on December
24. Video
here.
While
Inner City
Press asked
the question,
Agence France
Presse was in
the front row
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room but
neither said
nor asked
anything. (Reuters
either wasn't
there, as with
the Gambia
meeting of the
Security
Council,
or lurked to
belatedly
repackage the
story, with a
half dozen
jouranlists
listed, as its
own.)
A full day
after that,
AFP published
a derivative
story
about the
Sudanese
orders,
without any
credit, and
without this
new news,
responsive to
Inner City
Press'
question(s) --
after another
inquiry by
Inner City
Press to
Dujarric and
UNDP on
December 25,
Dujarric sent
this:
From:
Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org
Date: Thu, Dec
25, 2014 at
1:31 PM
Subject: Re:
Press request
on Sudan
PNG-ing Yvonne
Helle (asked
Dec 24) &
now Dec 25 Ali
Al-Za'tari
To: Matthew
Lee [at]
InnerCityPress.org
Cc: UNDP,
funca [at]
FUNCA.info
Matthew, The
UN has filed a
protest with
the government
of Sudan
following
their decision
to request the
departure of
two senior UN
officials from
the country.
As to
AFP, they then
published a
second story,
saying ""The
UN has filed a
protest with
the government
of Sudan
following
their decision
to request the
departure of
two senior UN
officials from
the country,"
Mr Dujarric told
AFP."
Told AFP?
This is the
same Agence
France Presse
which has been
silent on the
under-performance
at UN
Peacekeeping
of Herve
Ladsous,
including a
recent complaint
to the UN and
the Security
Council P3
about Ladsous
and Darfur.
By
contrast, Sudan Tribune
for example
credits Inner
City Press,
here. What
are AFP's
policies?
We've asked in
the past and
no answer was
ever given
(but see
this and this).
Overall, soo
the UN has now
filed a
protest -- but
what about the
UNFPA case in
April, and
this one, in
Darfur, which
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported on
earlier
today?
And why hasn't
Agence France
Presse, which
has previously
acted at the
UN in defense
of UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous,
written about
the 123
NGOs' and
Sudan experts'
complaint
about Ladsous,
below?
Earlier this
Fall, Sudan's
security
agency NISS
ordered a UN
humanitarian
staffer to
leave El
Fasher in
North Darfur,
Inner City
Press is
exclusively
informed.
She left, to
Khartoum --
where NISS
"harassed"
her, ordering
her to return
to El Fasher
and
"apologize" to
a NISS
official
there.
Ultimately she
left Sudan.
Nothing was
said, as with
an earlier
case in April
(on which
we'll have
more;
questions are
pending to
spokespeople
who cite the
holiday). This
is today's UN,
under Ban
Ki-moon and
Herve Ladsous,
Helen Clark
and, until
now, Ali
Al-Za'tari.
Watch this
site.
, 
