At UN,
Ban's Spox
Says Ladsous
Wasn't Told of
Open Meeting,
Censorship
Justified?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
19 --With
scandals
surrounding UN
Peacekeeping,
from covering
up child
rape by French
“peacekeepers”
in the Central
African
Republic to buying
sex in Haiti
and selling
UN Police jobs
in the DR
Congo, on June
18 UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
scheduled to
give a speech
to UN Force
Commanders in
Conference
Room 9 of UN
Headquarters
in an open
meeting,
following a public
photo-op with
the
commanders.
But when Inner
City Press
showed up for
the photo op,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
directed one
of his
officials to
tell Inner
City Press to
leave. Then he
got Ban's
guards to
eject Inner
City Press
from the open
meeting.
Dujarric said
those who
needed to know
weren't told
early enough
that it was an
open meeting.
It was a
strange
response,
because there
are open
meetings every
day in the UN
without prior
notice to all
participants;
this one was listed
as open in the
Media Alert
the night
before.
It
seems that
what Dujarric
meant is that
had Ladsous
been
specifically
directed to
the open
meeting
notation, he
would have had
time to veto
it, like this
patron. But
since he
didn't, how
could Ladsous
who ostensibly
works FOR Ban
Ki-moon get
Ban's guards
to oust the
Press from
covering an
open speech by
their boss?
Who works for
whom? We'll
have more on
this.
On June
18 Inner City
Press first
refused to
stop taking
pictures at
the photo op,
noting that
Ban's
appearance was
listed
in the online
Media Alert
of the UN
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit (MALU).
Nevertheless,
Ladsous'
official
insisted, and
Ladsous
himself began
to film Inner
City Press
with his
phone.
When Ban
Ki-moon and
his security
detail of at
least four
arrived, they
proceeded into
Conference
Room 9, as did
Inner City
Press
accompanied by
a MALU staff
member and a
staffer from
UN Photo. But
just as Ban
Ki-moon began
speaking, two
of his
security
officers came
over and told
Inner City
Press to
leave. In the
hall they said
that “the
organizer” --
Ladsous -- had
ordered it.
Inner
City Press
asked, if some
UN official
tells you to
throw out the
media, you
just do it?
"If he told
you to throw
me on the
ground, would
you throw me
on the
ground?"
Another
security
officer said,
at this point
the media is
not coming in.
That's it.
This is
called
censorship.
And it
happened right
in front of
Ban
Ki-moon.
When Ban came
out of
Conference
Room 9, he had
a discussion
with Ladsous -
what about? -
then walked on
by. Periscope
Video
II here.
This is Ban's
UN,
UNtransparent,
descended to
censorship.
The old
UN
Correspondents
Association
has said
nothing, just
as they said
nothing and more
when Ladsous
said he would
not answer
Inner City
Press and Ban's
spokesman
decided not to
call on Inner
City Press to
put a question
to Ladsous, on
the CAR rapes
and cover up.
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has demanded
an explanation
and response
from MALU and
the Department
of Public
Information
above it. A
senior UN
official told
Inner City
Press, “There
is no court.”
This use
of UN Security
is ironic,
given that as
Inner City
Press reported
on June 17
and asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
about on June
18, Ban shook
hands in the
UN in Geneva
with a person
on the US
Al-Qaeda
terrorist
list, photo
here. But
today's UN has
become the
source of
lawless
censorship,
amid its
scandals.
Watch this
site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
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