By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24
-- In the run
up to French
president
Francois
Hollande's
press
conference at
the UN on
Tuesday, a
swatch of
seats in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
were marked
"Reserved" --
in French. Tweeted
photo here.
Since
France has
once before tried to
limit a press
conference
inside the UN
to those with
French
passports,
this time the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info
went to the UN
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit and asked.
The answer was
that the head
of MALU had
said "oui."
Inner
City Press for
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access wrote
to four UN
Department of
Public
Information
officials, to
act before the
press
conference
(and to
explain what
percentage of
the briefing
room countries
are now
allowed to
take over).
There was no
response; one
of the
officials,
Stephane
Dujarric, came
before the
briefing and
greeted many
members of the
French press
corps.
The
result was
that numerous
UN resident
correspondents
got not only
no seats, but
more
importantly no
questions. The
picking of
questioners
(with one
exception) was
the work of
two French
staffers.
The exception
was the first
question,
predictably on
Syria, going
to the
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
Pamela Falk of
CBS. UNCA said
nothing about
the banning
from seats of
resident
correspondents
they
ostensibly
represent.
French foreign
minister
Laurent
Fabius, with a
reserved seat
next to Falk's
or "UNCA's"
seat, greeted
her. Falk's UNCA is
set to host a
faux UN
briefing by
Saudi-sponsored
(and
French-recognized)
Syria rebel
boss Ahmad al
Jarba. As
with the
French
"reserved"
seats, the UN won't
explain the
use of its, or
all 193
states',
premises in
this partisan
way.
For
Francois
Hollande the
French
staffers
called on
Agence France
Presse, sure.
One staffer
whispered with
a member of
the UNCA
Executive
Committee and
then decided
to give him a
question -- it
was about the
"Syrian
regime."
A
traveling
French media
asked Hollande
a softball
question about
Central
African
Republic, and
Hollande spoke
about how much
he and France
cared. But as
Inner City
Press reported,
there was no
UN Security
Council
resolution on
CAR in August
because
France's UN
diplomats were
on vacation,
and France
"has the pen"
on the issue.
France
also "has the
pen" on the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, a
region in
which France
and its
highest UN
official Herve
Ladsous
stand accused
of supporting
and assisting
genocidaires,
click here for
some of that.
As the press
conference
began to end,
Inner City
Press several
times asked,
"A question on
the DRC?" The
staffer,
flanked by a
French Mission
to the UN
diplomat, said
no; the last
question, like
the first, was
about Syria.
France
has so
corrupted the
UN that the
French mission
has been
allowed to
hand-pick
which
journalists
can go and
cover the
Security
Council's trip
to DRC,
Rwanda, Uganda
and Ethiopia
in early
October.
Inner
City Press,
which went on
the Council's
similar trip
in 2010,
applied but
received this:
From:
Jerome
Bernard [at]
un.org
Date: Fri, Sep
20, 2013 at
6:46 PM
Subject: Re:
Security
Council trip
to Africa
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress
[dot] com
Cc: Free UN
Coalition for
Access
@FUNCA_info
Hi
Matthew,
I
am sorry but
because of the
very limited
number of
seats in the
UN plane it
won't be
possible for
you to travel
with the
Security
Council for
this trip to
the Great
Lakes Region
of Africa.
I
am sure there
will be other
opportunities
for travel in
the future.
Best
regards,
Jerome
Bernard
Office of the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary-General
Inner
City Press
inquired and
learned, from
multiple
sources, that
France had
been allowed
to choose
which
journalists
will go. That
same day Inner
City Press
asked the
Office of the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary-General
for a list of
those
journalists
who France has
selected. Four
days later,
the list has
not been
provided.
Jerome
Bernard, who
will be
accompanying
the trip
apparently
hand-picked by
France (we
note that he
previously
worked at
Agence France
Presse, on one
of the
management
boards of
which Ladsous
served) will
supposed tell
reporters who
France did not
want on the
trip what is
happening.
Pardonez
nous that
we are
skeptical, and
raise this
question after
the UN let
France take
over even the
UN briefing
room.
We
will be
reporting on
this Genocide
Joyride. Watch
this site.
, 
