No Movement on Review
of UN Cyprus
CFO Who Got Cypriot Citizenship, UN
Watch-Stealing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive then video
UNITED NATIONS,
March 7 – 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." There is more, below.
And on February 28, about
another incident, Inner City
Press asked the UN, transcript
here and below. A week
later, having been provided no
update on the UN's
"investigation" of clear video
of its personnel stealing
watches, Inner City Press
asked again. From the UN's
March 7 transcript:
Inner City Press;
on Cyprus, you’ve said that
there are two things… you or
Stéphane [Dujarric] had said
there are two things being
investigated by the UN system,
one being the chief financial
officer having become a
citizen of Cyprus in
contravention, some say, of
the Status of Forces Agreement
and also the stealing of
watches, the films… apparent
stealing of watches by UNFICYP
(United Nations Peacekeeping
Force in Cyprus)
peacekeepers. So I
wanted to know, since it…
apparently, the only way to
get it is to ask again, what
is the status of those two
investigations, particularly
the filming of peacekeepers
taking watches out of a watch
store? Has anything
actually occurred since then?
Deputy Spokesman:
No. I mean, the
mission’s investigating the
veracity of the allegations,
and it will take prompt and
appropriate action if UNFICYP
personnel have been found to
have committed any
wrongdoing. But that is…
that investigation is
proceeding. Regarding
the other case, the competent
UN offices are reviewing it to
confirm its compatibility with
applicable UN rules.
Inner City Press:
another question on
Cyprus. I know that
you'd said that the [Husein
Moussa] thing is somehow being
reviewed. There's now a
story and a video of UNFICYP
[United Nations Peacekeeping
Force in Cyprus] peacekeepers
stealing a watch on the
Turkish Cypriot side.
And they named the individuals
and that the article says that
there is a legal proceeding,
which I assume has to be a UN…
since they are UN
peacekeepers. Are you
aware of this incident?
Spokesman: Yeah, no, the
Mission is very much aware of
the report. They've
launched an investigation to
look at the veracity of the
allegations. And,
obviously, should this be
found to be true, they will
take prompt action against any
personnel to have found [to
have committed]
wrongdoing. We would
expect UN personnel, whether
it's Headquarters or in the
field, to act with the highest
level of standards and
conduct.
Inner City Press. There seems
to be a spate of allegations
currently about the
Mission. Do you think
the Mission is either worse
run than other missions or…
Why is this all happening now?
Spokesman: No. We have
no… I have no doubt about the
excellent administration of
the mission. As to
whether or not it's an
orchestrated campaign or why
it's happening now, that's
really not for me to
analyze.
Really. On
Febuary 26, five days 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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