UNITED
NATIONS, April
5 -- That UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey almost
never has
answers to
questions is
one thing.
But
on April 5 Del
Buey decided
he wouldn't
even let
questions be
asked.
Del
Buey simply
refused to
take Inner
City Press
questions on
Haiti
and the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo,
countries in
which the UN
has
peacekeeping
missions (mis)
run by Herve
Ladsous
costing $800
million
and over $1
billion,
respectively.
To this low
has Ban
Ki-moon's UN
sunk.
The
first speaker
at Friday's
noon briefing
was Ban's main
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, who
been gone all
week in San
Marino,
Andorra,
Monaco
and now
Madrid.
The
purpose of the
call-in was to
describe and
promote a call
Ban made -- by
Skype! -- to
Malala, the
courageous
schoolgirl
shot be
extremists in
Pakistan.
Nesirky
said
clips from the
call would
soon be
uploaded to
YouTube.
(Flashback:
after
the UN raided
Inner City
Press' office
on March 18,
on March 19
a UN
supervisor
wrote to
demand that
the after raid
video be
removed
from YouTube
as a “first
step.”
This request,
about which
Inner
City Press
answered
questions from
the Department
of Public
Information
which led the
raid, has
never been
withdrawn.)
As
a question to
Nesirky, Inner
City Press
asked him to
confirm the
Vatican's
report that
Ban will visit
Pope Benedict
in Rome on
April
9, and to
confirm a
visit to and
appointment of
Staffan
De Mistura,
currently
deputy foreign
minister of
Italy as UN
envoy to Mali,
“as
we have
reported.”
“Who's
we?” Nesirky
asked.
“Inner
City Press,”
was the
answer.
Nesirky would
not even
confirm the
Vatican visit.
Mighty
dangerous, the
Vatican.
After
Nesirky spoke
about Ban's
time at the UN
World Tourism
Organization,
Del Buey read
out
announcements
then said he
would take
questions.
After
leaving Inner
City Press for
last, as has
become the
norm,
Inner City
Press said for
planning
purposes that
it would ask
questions
about Sudan,
Haiti and the
DRC -- all
countries in
which
the UN has
peacekeeping
missions (mis)
run by Herve
Ladsous.
After
saying he
didn't know
about a Small
Arms Survey
report on
South
Sudan, Del
Buey turned
away and told
another
correspondents,
“last
question.”
Why?
Inner City
Press asked.
Del
Buey seemed to
say because
he'd been in
the room too
long. But he
took very few
questions --
in fact on
April 3 he
managed to
hold his
briefing right
during Susan
Rice's
stakeout,
taking only
two
questions in a
record low six
minute
briefing. Is
he tired?
The
UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
known as UNCA,
never
challenges the
decline
of access to
information at
the UN. The
most recent
posting on its
glassed-in
bulletin board
is from
February 1.
Meanwhile
DPI,
from the
non-UNCA
bulletin board
won through
advocacy by
the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
recently tore
down every
flier, saying
they were too
old, including
a critical
flier from
late March.
The president
of UNCA Pamela
Falk of CBS
took photos of
the March
18 raid, then
issued a legal
threat to
Inner City
Press not to
write about
it.
To
this as the UN
descended. As
to the
questions Del
Buey refused
to
taken, much
less answer,
watch this
site.
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