As US
Power Talks UN
Peacekeeping,
What of Posts
For Sale,
Tabit &
Haiti Cholera?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
9 -- When US
Ambassador to
the UN
Samantha Power
spoke about UN
Peacekeeping
before the
Friends of
Europe group
in Brussels on
March 9, it
seemed
intended to
emphasize the
utility of the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
to urge more
European
involvement in
it.
Recently the
Dutch
component of
the Mission in
Mali, MINUSMA,
used attack
helicopters;
this results
in protests
against the UN
in Gao and the
shooting of
some
protesters. A
report on the
incident is
expected to be
finished by
the end of
March, but it
not clear in
what form it
will go to the
UN Security
Council, much
less be made
public.
So too with
the
Peacekeeping
Mission in
Darfur,
UNAMID, covering
up incidents
like the mass
rape in Tabit
in Darfur.
UNAMID's
November 9
press release
saying that
there was no
evidence and
that Tabit
residents get
along well
with Sudanese
security
forces remains
on the record
and online.
Going further
back, although
the
Congressional
Black Caucus
has urged the
Obama
administration
to
ensure that
the UN takes
responsibility
for the
cholera UN
Peacekeeping
brought to the
country,
this has not
happened, and
was not raised
at the
Brussels
meeting.
But here is
something that
must be
addressed:
positions in
the UN
Peacekeeping
missions in
the DR Congo
and Haiti have
been sold by
the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Cote
d'Ivoire, as
exposed in a
“strictly
confidential”
UN Office of
Internal
Oversight
Service report
which Inner
City Press obtained
and
exclusively
published,
here.
The UN has
answered Inner
City Press
that those who
paid money for
positions have
left or are in
the process of
leaving the UN
missions. But
the person who
sold the
position
remains inside
the UN; Inner
City Press has
run into him
several times
since the
exposes, and
has been
repeatedly
asked how it
got the
report, which
it will never
disclose.
UN
Peacekeeping
run by Herve
Ladsous, the
four Frenchman
in a row at
the helm of
DPKO, has done
nothing about
the Ivorian
DPR who sold
positions in
(at least)
MINUSTAH and
MONUSCO. But
it remains
surprising
that the US
has done
nothing. Some
wonder why the
OIOS
report was
only in
French.
But
now that it is
out and known
(picked up for
example with
credit to
Inner City
Press in
The
Independent of
the UK, here),
why hasn't the
US for example
moved to PNG
(persona non
grata) the
person who
sold UN
positions, as
it did (after
strip search)
the Indian
diplomat
Khobragade,
who did not
defraud or
sell positions
in the UN?
We
will continue
on this,
including as
the Security
Council begins
its French-led
trip to the
Central
African
Republic,
Addis Ababa
and Burundi.
Watch this
site.
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