Inner City Press (ICP); The Bone In The Neck Of The United Nations On Southern Cameroons Case
- Linda EYONG Suzy
- Oct 10, 2017
- 5 min read
Inner City Press (ICP) is a public interest organization founded by Matthew Lee, who serves as Executive Director. Inner City Press is best known for its investigations (Investigative Journalism) of the banking industry's treatment of low-income communities of color, at first within the United States and more recently around the world.
He is always conspicuously present at the United Nations Daily Briefing with the Spokespersons of the Secretary General, where his questions always hold the United Nations to task. Matthew Lee's level professionalism seems to be the biggest bone in the neck of the United Nations, and what usually makes some UN officials leave some of his questions unanswered. In some situations he will be restricted access into the press room (see image below), causing him to petition for his service to be reinstated.
On Southern Cameroons Crises
Inner City Press will seldom let a day go by without asking at least one question to the United Nations on the crises that has been rocking the English-speaking region for close to a year now. Matthew Lee's questions to the UN on our case is a big proof of his level of professionalism, as he seems to know more about Southern Cameroons crises even more than most of us based at home. I could spot Matthew Lee moving behind the Ngolle led commission to the UN and asking them if they came along with Barrister Agbor Balla, who at that time was still in detention. It was a big embarrasement to Ngolle Elvis and his team as they were spotted moving shamefully into the UN building.
Matthew Lee's embarrassing questions did not start with Ngolle's delegation neither did it end there. He has been the mouth piece of Southern Cameroonians at the United Nations since the crises began late last year. Find below, and extract of his questions to the United Nations at the daily press briefings;
On October 9 Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about raids on churches, gunfire from helicopters, and corporate complicity in censorship. Video here; from the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: I want to ask you about Cameroon. Over the weekend, several churches in Buea and… and other places in the Anglophone areas were raided by the military. And up to 200 people were arrested, and high bail is being charged to release them. There's also now some footage of the Government firing from helicopters on unarmed civilians on the ground. So I'm wondering, does the UN still stand behind this ten dead figure that was used by Prince Zeid last week? What… what's the status of Mr. [Francois Lounceny] Fall going? And… Okay. Go ahead.
Spokesman: Sorry. Mr. Fall and the Government are in discussion about when he can go. There was a team that went last week at the working level from his office. But we're still in discussions with the Government. The Government has expressed its willingness to welcome him. It's now a matter of finding the dates. As for the number of casualties, I don't have any updated numbers beyond what our colleagues at the Human Rights Office were able to confirm.
Inner City Press: And I wanted to ask you, you'd said last week the Internet should be on and social net… social networks. So I wanted to ask you, there's a French firm, Orange, that has a Cameroonian subsidiary. And they've said publicly that, when the Government tells them to turn stuff off, they just turn it off. They're a member of the Global Compact. And what I'm wondering is, does the UN believe that private telecom companies that a… ascribe to these human rights views as put forth in the Global Compact should, without notice to people and in a sort of a devious way where they say, sorry for the interruption; we're working to get it back on, obey the Government and turn the Internet off on people?
Spokesman: "Look, the Global Compact has processes to which to review whether or not companies should remain members of the Global Compact. That's existing. That's up to them to comment on. Our principled line continues to be that people should have access to the Internet, that the Internet is a critical tool for which people now every… in everyday lives to conduct their lives, not only to have access to information. As to the regulatory framework in each country and who's responsible for what, I can't comment on, but on a… because I don't know about it, because, obviously, as a matter of principle, we feel people should have access to the Internet."
The real world social network of the church is also under attack: for example, on October 8 people in churches in Buea were arrested en masse. Commemorations of those killed to date are scheduled for October 14, see here. What is and will be the role of religious leaders in this unfolding crackdown? Involved in the blocking of Internet and social networks is not only MTN but also France's Orange, which has said "our Group operates in Cameroon through a subsidiary Orange Cameroun which complies with the local legislation and therefore obeys to any national security instruction received from the authorities in accordance with its Telecommunications License." Orange is a member of the UN Global Compact, which offers "blue-washing" of such human rights violations, as first reported by Inner City Press now for a fee from companies like Orange. (As Inner City Press has noted in connection with Kenya, Safricom's Bob Collymore is on the board of the UN Global Compact). The UN's insufficient actions on, some say even complicity with, censorship and now mass killing are growing, and are increasingly being raised, in Geneva and not only at the Inter-Continental Hotel where Biya lives while ordering killings and cover ups. We'll have more on this.
Read more on this at http://www.innercitypress.com
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Bassona Nkeng
SC Blogger, Lebialem County
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