UN Admits
Union Chief was Barred by Doss' MONUC,
Maintains Malcorra Satisfied by LRA Fight
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 1 -- The UN
is shameless in
its defense of itself and its embattled high officials like Alan
Doss, the Congo envoy who asked
the UN Development Program to bend or
break rules to give his daughter a job, and then oversaw the
lock-out
of the head of his Mission's staff union. Last week Inner City Press
reported, based on documents,
that MONUC union chief Mr.Guershom Nondo said
he had been barred from MONUC premises.
The UN wrote to Inner City Press that
the report
was "incorrect," that Nondo was never barred. Inner City
Press then ran a second
story, complete with the denial and Nondo's e-mail.
Now the
UN writes to belatedly admit that yes, Nondo was barred by MONUC -- "MONUC security issued an incorrect internal
instruction
to its personnel to prevent him from entering the mission's premise" --
but
it was by mistake. But why then did the UN claim that the report was
in error? To defend itself and Doss.
Meanwhile when
straight-shooting UN official
Susana Malcorra was quoted in Uganda that a new mandate is needed to
more effectively combat the Lord's Resistance Army rebels, the UN in
New York quickly claimed she was misquoted, and issued a carefully
crafted version of what she supposedly said. Inner City Press asked,
is that what she said or what you wish that she had said?
Tuesday,
after the New
Vision of Uganda followed up saying that the UN in
Sudan and Alan Doss' MONUC should to more to fight the LRA, Inner
City Press asked again.
Alan Doss and Ambassador of Uganda,
nepotism, lock-out and new LRA mandate not shown
Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq
said that the
statement read out by Spokesperson Michele Montas is the UN's
position. It's a shame, because Malcorra's quote about a need for
changes to fight the LRA is the truth. But at the UN, apparently, the
truth must immediately be denied.
A graphic novel about the LRA
has been published,
"Unknown Soldier" from Vertigo. It is better than it might
have been, with references to President Museveni and the Ugandan
People's Defense Force. It errs in letting the UPDF off the hook,
saying that the LRA dressed up in official army uniforms to commit
atrocities in their name. Ask the people of Karamoja, where its the
"real" UPDF that torched whole villages. Still, the
graphic novel is welcome.
Here's the UN Spokesperson's Office e-mail:
Subj: Re: Your
Report/Question on MONUC and Mr. Nondo
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 8/31/2009 11:56:48
A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
A clarification
regarding
your earlier question on Mr. Nondo:
As indicated
earlier, he
is neither banned from MONUC premises, nor suspended.
MONUC
administration has
spoken directly to Mr. Nondo and explained this point. On the morning
of 25 August, MONUC security issued an incorrect internal instruction
to its personnel to prevent him from entering the mission's premises.
This was rescinded officially by MONUC Administration the following
day.
So why did the UN claim that "Your
report regarding MONUC and Mr. Nondo was incorrect.
MONUC
informs that Mr. Nondo has neither been banned from MONUC premises,
nor suspended"?
*
* *
In
Congo, UN's Alan Doss is Flying While Union Chief Maintains He's Banned
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 27 -- Alan Doss, the British chief of the UN's
Mission in the Congo MONUC who has been documented
to have asked for
a bending and breaking of UN rules to have his daughter hired in the
UN Development Program, on Wednesday claimed of the Kimia 2
operation, criticized for resulting in further displacement and of
being co-coordinated by indicted war criminal Bosco Ntagana, "the
outcome is largely positive."
From
the point
of
view of UN headquarters, then, Alan Doss is "on message,"
as well as representing Permanent Five Security Council member the
UK. Could this explain the lengths to which the UN is going to defend
Doss' nepotism, personal use of Mission resources and mismanagement
of relations with the local staff? Click here for local UN
staff e-mail.
On Doss'
April 20 e-mail to UNDP
asking for "leeway," widely described in the UN as
outrageous, still nothing has been done. The UN and Department of
Peacekeeping Operations in New York have also refused, since August
14 and 17 respectively, to provide any answer to whether Alan Doss
has used UN resources for his family in his previous non-family post
in Liberia, where sources tell Inner City Press Doss tried to bend
rules to get a job for his wife with UN Volunteers.
On
the Congo, the
UN on Thursday after more than 10 days responded, though a
spokesperson who has asked to remain nameless, that
on
your " family question": As far as we can determine, there
is no rule against staff members receiving visits from family
members. Mrs. Doss has visited the DRC and has stayed in-country on
several occasions since Mr. Doss became SRSG. She doesn’t reside in
the DRC. Mrs Doss has flown on UN aircraft in the DRC (during the
SG’s visit earlier this year, for example). There is no rule
against non-MONUC or non-UN personnel flying on UN/MONUC flights. In
the DRC, non-MONUC passengers fly on a space-available basis and
according to categories of priority (reimbursement is not normally
sought for travel by non-MONUC passengers on MONUC flights.)
Beyond
Doss'
reported seeking of "leeway" in Liberia, as in New York,
the above does not address whether other MONUC staffers can bring
family to the non-family location and fly for free on UN planes. Who
can do it? And who decides?
Alan Doss shaking in Congo, staff and UNDP victims not shown
On staff
relations
in the Congo, the UN on Thursday morning wrote
Subj:
Your Report/Question on MONUC and Mr. Nondo
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Inner City Press
Sent:
8/27/2009 10:19:21 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Dear
Matthew, Your report regarding MONUC and Mr. Nondo was incorrect.
MONUC
informs that Mr. Nondo has neither been banned from MONUC premises,
nor suspended.
While
for the record Inner City Press appended the incorrect position to its initial
article, Inner City
Press has Mr.
Guershom Nondo's e-mail about the situation, and now puts it
online here. Nondo states:
"Please
be advised that starting this morning I am not allowed to enter MONUC
premises... MONUC administration has decided to put me in
administrative leave starting this morning until further notice. This
decision is related to ... the ongoing interim Salary Survey as well
as all similar activities."
Inner
City Press
asked the UN Spokesperson's office, which erroneous charged error,
for a response, even suggesting they seek one from DFS Officer in
Charge Tony Banbury, but none has been received. Banbury has been
aware from the first article
that the issue is being raised. Is the
claim, as with the UNDP worker whose job Doss stole for his daughter,
that the lower ranked staff member is lying? How low will the UN go?
How much abuse of power will be permitted? Watch this site.
In
Congo, UN's Embattled Doss Bars Union Chief from Premises, Scandal
Expands
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 25, updated Aug. 27, 11 am -- Alan Doss, the
Special Representative of UN
Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon in the Congo, is embroiled
in a nepotism scandal at UNDP
in New York. Meanwhile in Kinshasa, he has barred Guershom Nondo,
the
president of the MONUC staff union, from UN premises.
When
on August 25 the Staff Union in New York sought to solve this labor
problem, they were first told that the head of Peacekeeping's
Department of Field Support is away from New York. Her deputy, Tony
Banbury, was deemed too busy with other meetings to attend to this
problem in the Congo. Finally a lower ranking official
said that the "Special Representative" -- that is, Alan
Doss -- would surely take care of the problem.
But how can the UN
preach good governance, transparency and labor rights, particularly
in the Congo, when the chief of its mission there explicitly asked the
UN
Development Program to bend its rules -- show him "leeway"
-- and give his daughter the job of the
assistant to the Deputy Director of
UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, who was subsequently
pepper sprayed by UN Security after he displayed Doss' email asking
for "leeway." He then allegedly bit Security Office Peter
Kolonias, but that's another story.
UN's Alan Doss in Goma -- preaching?
And
here is another story: a UN whistleblower who served in Liberia says
that
while it is a non-family duty station, Doss brought family members
there, something prohibited to other UN staff, and tried to get them
hired, for example by UN Volunteers. Inner City Press has been told
this by several well-placed sources. The UN has still refused to
answer questions posed in writing on August 14 to Ban's
Spokesperson's Office and August 14 to Peacekeeping, "Please
describe and account for -- including use of UN / Mission resources
including air resources -- any presence by Doss family members along
with Mr. Doss in DRC, and before that in Liberia (for that latter,
including any effort to use UN Volunteers resources)."
For seven and ten days, no answers from the UN.
Inner City Press has asked Doss for his side the the story and received
a terse email that he began at DPKO on July 1, the rest is being
investigated.
On
August 24, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson Michele
Montas if, as has been said would happen, Ban has received a report
on l'affaire Doss now that Ban has been back in New York for five
days. No, the Spokesperson said:
Inner
City Press: Marie had said … now it’s, I don’t know, about 10
days ago … that the Secretary-General took these allegations about
Mr. Doss, the job that UNDP -- the whole nepotism issue seriously,
and he expected
to receive a report on his return to New York. I am
wondering, has he received this report yet? And if not, when is he
going to receive it?
Spokesperson: Well,
you know, I asked the question today and the answer I got is
that he has not received the report yet, and is still expecting it
from UNDP.
Inner
City Press: Because, the thing is, when she said it, she said it was
somehow different than the UNDP one. She said he expected to receive
it upon his return to New York. That’s why it sort of seemed to be
maybe just an update on what had had happened, or why the
investigation is taking so long.
Spokesperson: As far
as I know, he has received nothing new about the case.
And
on August 27, Ban Ki-moon leaves town again, for Vienna and Norway
and Geneva. His Deputy Spokesperson said he
took allegations of
nepotism seriously and expected to receive a report when he returned
to New York... Watch this site.
Update of August 27,
11 am
-- for the record, Alan Doss' MONUC now states that "Mr.
Nondo has neither been banned from MONUC premises, nor suspended."
That's not what Mr. Nondo's email to UN Headquarters in New York has
said. We note the UN's strange position on putting actual documents
online, that it is somehow undiplomatic. We also note that the UN
and DPKO have refused, since August 14 and 17 respectively, to
provide any answer to whether Alan Doss has used UN resources for his
family in his previous "non-family" post in Liberia. There are a
number of other questions left unanswered by the UN and DPKO, we will
be writing separately on that topics shortly. Watch this site.
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