Review
of UN Cyprus
CFO Who Got Cypriot Citizenship. Long
Ago Outed
to UN Big Wigs
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive then video
UNITED NATIONS,
February 27 – Amid delay of
the UN's Cyprus talks, Inner
City Press on February 21 asked about
the delay and the case of the
"Chief Financial Officer of
UNFICYP [United Nations
Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
who] has been recently granted
citizenship of Cyprus.... is
there any policy on host
countries of peacekeeping
missions giving citizenship to
internationals that are based
there?"
UN Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq replied,
"I'm not aware of someone from
UNFICYP taking Cypriot
nationality, but I'll check on
that."
Five days
later, after UN lead spokesman
Stephane Dujarric on February
24 ran
out of the UN Press Briefing
Room as Inner City Press asked
about UN Peacekeeping (and the
lack
of UN due process for
journalists) and declined
written questions after
that, we have this exclusive
report.
The CFO of
UNFICYP is named Husein
Moussa. Complaints about his
have been lodged against him
since at latest May 2016 in e-mails
and attachments UN Under
Secretary Generals Atul Khare,
Jeffrey Feltman and Herve Ladsous,
among others. Inner City Press
is exclusively publishing the
contents of a May 6, 2016
email leaked to it, here,
and a series of attachments
about Husein's Moussa's lack
of academic verification, here,
including in Annex 3 a 2014
"follow on the academic
verification for Mr. Moussa...
not yet cleared."
Beyond
violating the Status of Forces
Agreement between the UN and
Cyprus by obtaining Cypriot
citizenship, Moussa is charged
in the May 2016 email with
using UN vehicles after-hours
and a variety of other
irregularities: "Husein Moussa,
the Chief Finance and Budget
Officer, continuously and
freely used the UN owned vehicle
throughout his assignment to
UNFICYP, i.e., since 2002."
(So much for Ban Ki-moon's
supposed mobility policy.)
Also that
"Husein Moussa had mentioned
to a friend of his that the
information about his university
degree he had provided in his
PHP was not true... If the
brushing of this case under
the carpets continues, I will
refer the details to the
international media for
another UN scandal they will
publish with great pleasure."
Now that
this has happened, and the
UN's two holdover spokesmen
have refused to provide basic
answers and even run out of
the briefing room and ignore
written questions, it has
become an issue in the Cyprus
talks, one of the few possibly
fruitful UN diplomatic efforts
in the past decade. Corruption
and scapegoating makes today's
UN even less able to be fit
for purpose.
On February 27,
Inner City Press again asked
the UN, video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
on 21 February, I asked your
deputy about this case that's
reported in both Turkish
Cypriot and Cypriot side of
the Chief Financial Officer of
UNFICYP (United Nations
Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus)
becoming a Cypriot
citizen. So I wanted to
know, since I've heard nothing
back, do you have an
answer? And, two,
I've obtained or been… a
memorandum that, in fact,
these issues around Mr.
Hussein Mousa were raised to
Mr. [Atul] Khare and a variety
of Under-Secretaries-General
as far back as May 2016,
including an educational
problem. And so I'm
wondering, since this is now
supposedly a problem in the
talks, the Turkish Cypriot
side has raised it, what is
the answer on it?
Spokesman: I don't know
the individual involved, but I
know that UNFICYP is aware of
the case and the competent UN
offices are reviewing it, also
to confirm its compatibility
with applicable UN
rules. Once the review
is taken, then we'll take a
look at the situation.
From the UN's February 21, 2017
transcript:
Inner
City Press: I wanted to ask you
on Cyprus a general question and
then something very
specific. One is, where
does it stand on the
talks? As of at least the
last reporting, it may not
restart because of the request
by the Turkish Cypriots that the
Cyprus President denounce this
new law or get it
repealed. So, want just an
update on that. And the
other one has to do with it's a
very specific story in the press
there that the Chief Financial
Officer of UNFICYP [United
Nations Peacekeeping Force in
Cyprus] has been recently
granted citizenship of
Cyprus. And so the Turkish
Cypriot side finds that strange
and says, I guess he's an
international civil servant but
what explains, is there any
policy on… on host countries of
peacekeeping missions giving
citizenship to internationals
that are based there?
Thanks.
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
I'd have to check about
that. I'm not aware of
someone taking… from UNFICYP
taking Cypriot nationality, but
I'll check on that.
Regarding your initial question,
our envoy, Espen Barth Eide, did
meet with the parties late last
week to continue discussions in
terms of finding a way to bring
them back together for
talks. We don't have any
new date for talks between the
leaders to announce at this
point.
Then no answers, UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric running out of the
briefing room amid Inner City
Press questions and refusing
its written questions
since, while continuing the restrictions
on Inner City Press' journalistic
access at the UN imposed in
early 2016. UNfailing.
***
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