UNITED
NATIONS, July
1 -- For nine
days, the UN
has refused to
confirm or
even just deny
to Inner City
Press detailed
allegations
that in
Somalia the UN
Mine Action
Service chief
David Bax
shares
information
with US
intelligence.
After
UNMAS chief
Agnes
Marcaillou
ignored
detailed
e-mail
questions,
Inner
City Press asked UK
Ambassador to
the UN Mark
Lyall Grant,
and separately
at the UN's
noon briefing
-- and was
told to “ask
DPKO.” But
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
French chief
of the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
has openly
refused to
answer
any Press
questions,
video
compilation
here.
Finally
today
July 1, nine
days after
Inner City
Press' first
exclusive
story, UN
Somalia envoy
Nicholas Kay
held a Twitter
Q&A for an
hour. He
fielded
questions
about
Somaliland,
Kismayo,
Aweys,
Puntland
-- and
initially not
the UNMAS /
Bax question,
which was then
re-iterated
by the new Free UN Coalition for Access through
@FUNCA_info.
When
Kay replied,
it was to @InnerCityPress
with this:
“Sorry your
question is
one for NY.
My impression
in 1st month
is UNMAS doing
important work
in Somalia.”
The
problem is,
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked the
question in
New
York, without
answer other
than this:
Subject:
Your
questions on
Somalia.
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jun
26, 2013 at
9:43 AM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
The
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
does not
discuss
internal
communications
or emails
received with
media
correspondents.
UNMAS
personnel are
not authorised
to carry guns
and do not do
so.
So
the main
question still
has to be
answered.
There are
other troubling
UNMAS
Mogadishu
questions,
including
harassment and
hypnotism, noted
Monday by a
reader. Even
on the guns
question, Kay
went on to say,
“@innercitypress
We take staff
safety
seriously.
Some of our
guards are
armed.”
Inner
City Press immediately
asked if this
includes UNMAS
contractor
Denel
a/k/a Mechem,
but by then
Kay's twitter
Q&A (held
from Europe,
apparently)
was over. So
this has to be
answered to.
Still
Kay did better
than most UN
officials.
He was
conciliatory
to the
many
Somaliland
questions,
including from
a FUNCA
collaborator
in
Hargeisa (Kay
acknowledged
that "UNSOM
operations in
Somaliland are
on hold.")
He said l'affaire
Aweys is up to
Somali
justice. But
what
if US
intelligence,
or the same
middleman
Bancroft
Global
Development,
is involved?
Ultimately,
Kay
cannot leave
to be (not)
answered in
New York the
question of
alleged
improper
passing of
information to
US
intelligence
by UN
system
personnel in
Mogadishu.
As
the
whistleblower
raised, it
impacts staff
safety,
credibility
and Kay's
ability to do
his job.
Plus, Kay has
a
responsibility
to act on the
reported
witch hunt
at the UN in
Mogadishu to
try to find
the
whistleblower
rather than
address the
complaints.
But Monday,
Kay did better
than most UN
officials.
Watch this
site.
, 
