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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post List

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 11 – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on March 27 lavished praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now accused with respect to Jamal Khashoggi, accepting a $930 million check from the Saudis and UAE, with not a word of the Saudi led bombing campaign that has killed civilians and caused cholera in Yemen. On February 7 Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric put out another rosy note on Yemen, no mention of the Saudi and Emirati cover up of bombing MSF's cholera treatment center (then again, Guterres has not paid a penny for the UN killing 10,000 in Haiti with cholera). Now on February 11 this joint statement from UN / UK officials Martin Griffith and Mark Lowcock: "The urgency of United Nations access to the Red Sea Mills in Hodeida is growing by the day.      The World Food Programme (WFP) grain stored in the mills - enough to feed 3.7 million people for a month - has been inaccessible for over five months and is at risk of rotting. At the same time, the United Nations is in the process of scaling up to provide food assistance to nearly 12 million people across Yemen who struggle to meet their daily food needs. Our main concern is for their survival and well-being.      We are encouraged by recent engagement of all sides, working with the United Nations on the ground, to create the necessary conditions for the team to reach the mills without further delay. We acknowledge the confirmation from Ansar Allah of their commitment to implement the Hodeida Agreement. We appreciate their earlier efforts to re-open the road leading to the mills which have been carried out under difficult and dangerous circumstances.      We emphasize that ensuring access to the mills is a shared responsibility among the parties to the conflict in Yemen. With safe, unfettered and sustained access, the United Nations can make this urgently needed food available to people in need." The actions of both gentlemen's home government the UK, and new boss Guterres, undermine their credibility / objectivity. On January 31 the UN Security Council held a meeting on Yemen, but it was closed-door and afterward only pro-Coalition Kuwait spoke on camera.  Guterres himself is no paragon of  transparency and anti-corruption and press freedom. Beyond Guterres' MOU with MBS, his Global Communicator Alison Smale has appointed Maher Nasser, who blocks the Press on Twitter, as chief promoter of the UAE's Expo 2020 Dubai, see Inner City Press exclusive here. Now on February 5, from Guterres' Office of the Spokesperson - not signed by lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric- this: "Houthi and Government of Yemen representatives of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) continued to meet on 4 and 5 February aboard a United Nations vessel berthed in the Port of Hudaydah. The parties have engaged in long and intense discussions both yesterday and today in order to find mutually acceptable solutions and associated timelines for the implementation of the Hudaydah provisions in the Stockholm Agreement. The RCC Chair, General Patrick Cammaert, commended both parties for demonstrating good-will and engaging constructively together to overcome trust issues and to find viable solutions that would eventually demilitarize the ports and city of Hudaydah and facilitate life-saving humanitarian operations.     Weeks of sustained engagement by the RCC Chair and his team are beginning to pay off. Today, the Parties are closer to agreeing modalities for phase one redeployment than they were six weeks ago.  They are grappling with the complexities of disengaging forces in close proximity of each other and the gradual redeployment of heavy weapons, armor, and infantry. The Parties are fully aware of the international spotlight on their efforts to implement the Hudaydah agreement and its implications for the broader peace process for Yemen.     The parties will continue discussions tomorrow under the auspices of Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard, who assumed his duties as RCC Chair and Head of UNMHA on the evening of 5 February." Cammaert, who covered up for the UN in South Sudan, is out. On January 29 not Guterres' murky UN but the Saudi Press Agency announced that “The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his gratitude for the Kingdom’s support in pushing for positive results in the dialogue between the Yemeni parties." Meanwhile, from Washington DC on January 30, the day after Sen Jeff Merkley against raised the Saudis' activities in Oregon, this: "Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) renewed their efforts in the Senate and House Wednesday to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. 

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