Afghan
Inaction
on UN Death as UNICEF Hired Karzai Insiders, UN in Kabul
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 17 -- The UN system's comprised relations with
powers in Hamid Karzai's Afghanistan are exhibited both by the UN's
failure to push for accountability for the killing of UN staff member
Louis Maxwell by Afghan national forces and UNICEF's
hiring of Kabul
insiders, to keep Karzai and his ministers happy, sources say.
For
months Inner
City Press has asked the UN about the death of
Louis Maxwell at the
hands of Afghan national forces. A UN board of inquiry, referring
to
friendly fire, should have led to an Afghan investigation and
prosecution.
When
Inner City
Press asked top UN Security official Gregory Starr why nothing had
been done, he talked about turmoil in the Karzai government, adding
that with so many Afghans killed, it was hard to push about the death
of a particular individual like Louis Maxwell. Rank and file UN
Security staff expressed shock at this answer, and surmised that the
UN didn't want to ruffle any feathers in the Karzai administration,
wanting to remain in the country in parallel with the ongoing US led
occupation.
Weeks
ago, a
variety of sources told and confirmed to Inner City Press that the
UN's children's agency likewise was hiring “cronies” of Karzai
and his ministers, in order to curry favor with the government and
ministries.
Inner
City Press
asked UNICEF about some of these connections. For days, UNICEF did
not provide answers to these Afghanistan questions, while exhibiting
fast turn around about its operations in other countries. Inner City
Press was admonished not to go forward with a story based on
“unverified” names and connections. Then UNICEF ultimately
confirmed the names and hirings, while providing a different
explanation:
“our
work in Afghanistan is undertaken under very difficult circumstances,
and we are often obliged to adjust time frames for the achievement of
objectives to reflect changing circumstances. There have been
instances where UNICEF has felt that the work its consultants are
undertaking in support of Government capacity-building has drifted
away from our objectives and our mandate. In these cases considerable
additional effort is put into ensuring that their activities are
refocused.”
Here
in fairness to
UNICEF is the full Q&A with the agency's spokesman, followed by
Inner City Press' November 16 inquiry about accountability for the
murder of UN staff member Louis Maxwell:
Subject:
Qs
re Afghanistan Catherine Mbegune / Najibullah Mujudidi etc
To:
"Matthew Russell Lee" [at] InnerCityPress.com
From:
Christopher de Bono [at] unicef.org
Hi
Matthew,
Here are my answers.
1.
Please confirm or deny that UNICEF provided Karzai associate
Najibullah Mujudidi with a retainer or other payment, and unless
deny, please comment on how this is appropriate, and what services
were rendered;
Dr.
Mojadidi,
a former World Health Organization official, has worked as
a UNICEF local consultant in Afghanistan. He was paid a standard
consultants’ rate. The terms of reference for the consultancy
involved providing policy and strategic advice on the implementation
of social sector programmes, including overseeing the implementation
of a polio initiative, and preparing briefs for UNICEF on donor and
national development strategies. Normal assessments were done upon
completion of the assignments, and these indicate that the terms of
reference were met to the satisfaction of UNICEF. At the time of his
consultancies with UNICEF, Dr. Mojadidi was not a member of the
Government of Afghanistan or a government official.
UN's Ban and Karzai, action on Maxwell murder &
UNICEF hiring not shown
2.
Please confirm or deny that UNICEF's Catherine Mbegune signed a blank
travel authorization for Najibullah Mujudidi and unless deny, please
comment on how this is appropriate;
During
Catherine
Mbengue’s time as UNICEF representative in Afghanistan
she signed two (2) only travel authorizations for Dr Mojididi to
undertake travel on behalf of UNICEF. These travel authorizations
contain the standard specific details about the reason for travel,
dates and destination, and are in accordance with our regulations. We
should note that a travel authorization, whether blank or completed,
is not a voucher and could not be used for “unlimited travel”. It
is an administrative procedure that facilitates a specific trip
undertaken on UNICEF’s behalf.
3.
Please describe UNICEF's Catherine Mbegune's practices with respect
to sole source (or “no bid”) contracts and, separately, that one
such sole source contract was to be to an affiliate of a university
in the US where the Head of Health section (acting deputy Rep)
Brandao Co got his scholarship and degree.
While
competitive
bidding is the norm for UNICEF contracts, we have no
option in some circumstances but to enter into single source
contracts, particularly when the specific expertise that we require,
as a consequence of external circumstances, is only available from
one provider or when security or emergency circumstances mean that
the usual competitive review cannot be completed in time to provide
the help that we need. Representatives in difficult environments,
like Afghanistan was at that time, often have legitimate recourse to
single source contracts and Ms. Mbengue was no exception.
During
Ms.
Mbengue’s tenure as Representative, UNICEF Afghanistan was
considering commissioning a nutrition survey of certain areas of
Afghanistan, because we were concerned about a lack of useful data
and the impact of poor nutrition on the health and well-being of
children. Discussions took place around the possibility of hiring of
Johns Hopkins University to undertake this survey. Johns Hopkins
University (with which UNICEF often works) had previously
demonstrated its capacity to undertake surveys in the same area of
Afghanistan, including by successfully completing the only recent
credible survey on infant mortality in the area. The basis of the
preliminary discussion was the capacity of this university to
undertake such a proper study in a region prone to serious travel,
communications and security problems. Ultimately UNICEF did not
commission the nutrition survey and no agreement with Johns Hopkins
was entered into. The fact that a UNICEF staff member had attended
that university was not a consideration.
4.
Please confirm or deny that UNICEF paid associates / advisers of Riz
Izan for MRRD, Wadek for Education and the minister for health and
unless deny, please comment on how this is appropriate, responding to
the assertion that these were at least in part payments for “keeping
the Ministers happy".
As
part
of its country programme UNICEF Afghanistan has provided
consultants who give technical advice to the Ministries, including
the Ministry of Education. This is consistent with global practice
and part of our efforts to achieve our mandate to build capacity
within the government and thereby improve the education of children
in Afghanistan. The consultants are based at the Ministry, although
the UNICEF office is in regular contact with them. In addition, the
Ministry provides UNICEF with regular reports, including quarterly
updates, on the activities the consultants undertake, which UNICEF
uses as one source to determine whether the agreed results are being
achieved.
Your
readers
may wish to note that our work in Afghanistan is undertaken
under very difficult circumstances, and we are often obliged to
adjust time frames for the achievement of objectives to reflect
changing circumstances. There have been instances where UNICEF has
felt that the work its consultants are undertaking in support of
Government capacity-building has drifted away from our objectives and
our mandate. In these cases considerable additional effort is put
into ensuring that their activities are refocused so was can be
confident they are in line with our programmatic objectives.
The
characterization
you provide in quotes (although not attributed to
anybody) is inaccurate. In order to be sustainable, UNICEF’s
initiatives to improve education and health in many countries often
include support to improve government capacity. This is one example
of such a project.
Chris
de
Bono
Here
is the
pertinent portion of the UN's transcript of its November 16 noon
briefing, about any Afghan investigation into the murder of UN staff
member Louis Maxwell:
Inner
City
Press: I want to ask about Afghanistan and the UN staff member
Louis Maxwell that died there in the compound... what has the UN done
to ensure that its recommendation to the Afghan Government that they
investigate who killed Louis Maxwell and the circumstances of his
death actually be done? Has there been any progress since Mr.
[Gregory] Starr’s visit there? What can you say about that?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson Farhan Haz: I don’t have anything further to
report to you since Mr. Starr’s visit. As you know, that visit by
Gregory Starr was part of our effort to ensure that there is
follow-up, and we will continue to press the Afghan authorities.
Ultimately, the onus for follow-up action is on them.
More
than a day
later, no information about any follow-up has been provided. Watch
this site.
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