In
Darfur, UN
Staff Fired
After
Complaining of
Mindaouduo,
Ladsous
Promoted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, June
30 -- When
discussion
turns to cover
ups in Darfur,
the role most
covered up is
that of the UN
itself. Inner
City Press has
reported in
detail how the
mass rape in
Tabit in
November 2014
was covered up
by UNAMID, run
for the UN by
Herve Ladsous,
who has met
with Omar
Bashir while
refusing Press
questions
about that and
his role in
covering up
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic.
Now Inner City
Press reports
--
exclusively,
it seems clear
-- on the UN's
attempt to
cover up a
senior P5
staff member's
complaint
against high
official
Aichatou
Mindaouduo at
UNAMID, before
she was
promoted by
Herve Ladsous
to head his
mission in
former French
colony Cote
d'Ivoire.
(Inner City
Press asked
Aichatou
Mindaouduo
questions,
which she
declined to
answer on UN
microphone,
while still
better than
Ladsous.)
The P5 staff
member is
Oriano
Micaletti. In
Darfur, he was
head of the
UNAMID
Humanitarian
Protection
Strategy, as
which he
reported for
example that
"approximately
400,000 people
are displaced
in Jebel Marra
area. They
have received
very limited
assistance
during the
last few years
and are in
urgent need of
humanitarian
aid."
Amid the UN's
near-systemic
cover up in
Darfur,
Micaletti
filed a
complaint
about higher
UNAMID
official
Mindaouduo.
That's when
his problems,
leading to him
losing his
position,
began. As
Micaletti set
forth in a
letter to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra which
Inner City
Press has
obtained:
“In
2013, I filed
a harassment
complaint
against Ms.
Aichatou
Mindaouduo.
Exactly 10
days later,
her Special
Assistant
deliberately
provoked a
situation that
led to an
altercation
and a physical
confrontation.
No action was
taken against
me because the
mission was
aware of the
provocations
that led to
the
incident.
Those reasons
are contained
in a code
cable that
transmitted
the case to
New York. That
cable was
suppressed by
DFS. It was
not forwarded
to OHRM. A new
transmittal
was crafted a
year later to
refer the case
to OHRM by DFS
that
materially
misrepresented
the facts.
“It
was on the
basis of this
new
transmittal
that my
services were
eventually
terminated. I
brought these
facts to the
attention of
OHRM and asked
for a
proper
investigation,
but my
concerns were
totally
ignored by
OHRM.
“The
fact that the
other party
provoked the
incident and
lied about it
was not taken
into account
by OHRM. I
even appealed
the decision
to continue
with the
disciplinary
case without a
proper
investigation
to the UNDT,
but OHRM acted
without
bothering to
wait for the
court's
decision on my
appeal.
“In
the meantime
my P-5 post in
UNAMID (I am a
continuing
appointment
holder) was
abolished even
though at
least four
vacant posts
and a good
number of
fixed term
were
saved.
There is no
satisfactory
explanation
why my post
was selected
for abolition
under these
circumstances,
other than the
fact that the
decision was
made by
someone in New
York.
“The
Aichatou case
that set all
this in motion
was itself not
investigated.
When I tried
to follow up
more than six
months later,
DFS set up a
low level fact
finding panel
that reached
its
conclusions
without even
interviewing
the UNAMID
JSR, the
DJSR/OPERATIONS
or the Chief
of Staff who
were privy to
the pattern of
harassment I
had been
subjected
to...Mr.
Ladsous had
sought
informal
resolution of
the Aichatou
case after
having
promoted her
without first
resolving the
harassment
complaint
against her.”
While further
answers will
be sought, it
must be noted
that Herve
Ladsous openly
refuses Press
questions, now
abetted by the
UN
Spokesperson.
But with all
due respect to
others
involved in
this alleged
case of
retaliation,
these
questions must
be answered,
not spun
through
scribes.
Ladsous
relatedly
appears in a
UN Dispute
Tribunal
ruling as
urging the
firing of
another UN
whistleblower,
Anders
Kompass, who
did not simply
sit on a
report about
the rape of
children in
the Central
African
Republic by
French
soldiers. What
is the common
denominator
here? Watch
this site.
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