On
Burundi,
ICP Asks UN of
Harassment of
Media, UN Harasses
Press, Evicts April 16
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- With Burundi troops accused of raping children as part of
UN Peacekeeping chief
Herve Ladsous'
MINUSCA mission in the
Central African Republic, as well as accused of abuses in Burundi itself, a new funding question has arisen. And the UN of
Ban Ki-moon has moved to evict
Inner City Press, which is asking the question.
On April 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I'd asked yesterday about this switch of payments from the Burundian
Central Bank to a bank in
Paris, and I guess that's okay with the UN. But, there are various reports that, at least since last fall, some Burundian peacekeepers have not actually been paid.
And I'm wondering, what steps are taken by
DFS [
Department of Field Support] to make sure that does happen?
Deputy Spokesman Haq:
The UN… the UN contacts troop-contributing countries to make sure that there's follow-up so that there is payment. If there's any problems, we'd have to deal with the necessary troop-contributing country on that.
Question: And on press freedom, I wanted to ask you, there's a radio station Isanganiro, which is now in exile from Burundi, but the sister of the director of the radio station was arrested yesterday in
Bujumbura.
It's viewed as basically a kind of retaliation against freedom of expression. And I wanted to know, is that something that the UN is aware of? Are they monitoring cases where people either directly journalists or close family members of journalists are being detained, and what does the UN do about it?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Well, we'd be concerned about any reports of harassment of the media. You'll have seen what the
High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, has said in recent weeks about such reports on the ground in Burundi. And we continue to have concern, to make sure that all of those who are exercising freedom of speech and freedom of expression can do so without any hindrance.
Hours after these claims, and in retaliation, the UN sent Inner City Press this:
Subject:
Office
To:matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com
From: Mekel@un.org
Date: Tue, Apr 12, 2016 at 6:47 PM
Dear Mr. Lee,
Further to the letter to you from
Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for
Communications and
Public Information, on 30
March 2016, we note that you did not remove your belongings from the office by the 6 April deadline as required.
As you have still not removed your belongings, we wish to inform you that your belongings will be packaged on Saturday 16
April 2016 at 10:00 a.m.
After carefully packaging them up, your belongings will be forwarded to
Bronx NY headquarters address for Inner City Press that you had listed in your media accreditation application. If you wish us to forward your packaged belongings to another address instead, please let us know as soon as possible.
We request your presence during the packing.
Please contact the Media Accreditation and Liaison
Unit (MALU) to make the necessary arrangements. If you are not present, the packing and forwarding will still take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday 16 April 2016.
Best, Tal
Tal Mekel
Acting
Chief
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit
United Nations - S-250
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 1-212-963-1504
Fax: 1-212-963-4642
@UNMediaLiaison
http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/
Even as the
European Union considers changes to it payments for Burundi peacekeepers in
AMISOM in
Somalia, so that less of the money is taken by the
Nkurunziza government for repression, UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous and
Maria Costa have made their pay-out to Nkurunziza's government - no longer through the Burundi
National Bank but through a bank account in Paris, at Commerzbank.
On April 11, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about this: why is the money not being paid to the
Burundi Central Bank? Would Ladsous pay to an offshore bank, in
Antigua and Barbuda or
Panama for example, without looking into it?
Dujarric said he does not have details on member states banking relations; he did not answer on offshore banks. Here are some photos, here.
On #Burundi, ICP asked UN of #Ladsous paying bank in Paris, concerns of civil society, h/t photos pic.twitter.com/UPyeikgbfl
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) April 11, 2016
Meanwhile some also say that those repatriated from
CAR under allegations of abuse, for example
First Major Srgt Zepherin, are just re-sent by the Nkurunziza government for “service” with AMISOM in Somalia. We'll have more on this, too.
and this:
AFP: https://vine.co/v/iTV23P726r3
- published: 13 Apr 2016
- views: 63