In
Darfur, UN
Staff Cited
Code Cables
Frozen by
Mindaouduo,
Ladsous
Promoted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive series
UNITED
NATIONS, July
6-- 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.
On
June 30 Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported
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.
Now Inner City
Press begins
publishing
portions of
that
complaint, for
example that
Mindaouduo
began
demanding that
all reports of
his Sections
"be cleared
with her
Office.
Consequently
any Code Cable
or report
prepared by my
Sections once
transmitted to
her Office
have been
frozen."
This
is precisely
the type of
cover up of
attacks on
civilians that
are the
pattern in
UNAMID and
more generally
throughout UN
Peacekeeping
under Ladsous.
The question
we have as we
review the
detailed
complaint(s)
against
Mindaouduo is
why Ladsous
promoted her
up, to SRSG in
Cote d'Ivoire.
On this, we'll
have more.
After on June
30 publishing
the exclusive
report,
Inner City
Press asked
UN Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about it on
July 1:
Inner
City Press:
I have three
questions, and
they are
questions.
One has to do
with a
self-described
whistleblower
of UNAMID
[United
Nations-African
Union Mission
in Darfur], a
Mr. Oriano
Micaletti, who
says that he's
being
investigated
after he filed
the complaint
against Ms.
Mindaoudou,
who's now the
head…
Deputy
Spokesman:
Mindaoudou.
Aichatou
Mindaoudou.
Inner City
Press:
Okay — who's
now the Head
of the mission
in Côte
d’Ivoire.
And basically,
I mean, one, I
wanted to… if
you can
confirm, one,
that he filed
the complaint,
two, that he's
under
investigation,
and the third
thing, which I
only learned
this morning,
is that, is
he… is the
investigation
of what
occurred in
Darfur being
conducted from
Juba rather
than from
Darfur, due to
a failure of
the board of
inquiry or the
investigators
to get visas?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: I
don't have
details about
an
investigation.
What I can say
about Mr.
Micaletti is
that the
abolition of
his position
was part of a
streamlining
exercise
undertaken in
2014 following
Security
Council
Resolution
2148. As
part of this
exercise,
UNAMID's
structure has
been
reorganized to
improve its
capacity and
responsiveness
to the new
strategic
priorities
endorsed by
the Security
Council
following a
review
conducted in
2014.
This led to
the
abolishment of
a total number
of 1,260
posts,
including that
of Mr.
Micaletti,
which was
identified
following a
process
conducted by a
work group
comprised of
the
Departments of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
Field Support
and the UN
mission,
UNAMID, and
endorsed by
the
Under-Secretaries-General
of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
of Field
Support, as
well as the
Fifth
Committee and
its resolution
in December
2014 approving
UNAMID's
2014-2015
budget.
Inner City
Press:
Just one thing
on that.
Because I see
he's been
quoted on
Radio Dabanga
and other
places since
then on, for
example,
displacement
of people in
Darfur due to
Government
attacks.
And so is
there any… has
there been any
review?
I understand
all the
resolution
numbers that
you've
listed.
But that the
elimination of
these posts
doesn't end up
further
reducing
UNAMID's
reporting on
impacts on
civilians in
Darfur?
Because that
seems to have
been what his
job was.
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, we have
been trying to
make sure the
key functions
of UNAMID will
continue.
This is why
we've been in
dialogue with
the
Government, as
you know, and
as part of
that, we've
also been in
dialogue with
the Security
Council to
make sure that
the key
functions of
the UN
mission,
UNAMID, the
UN-African
Union Mission,
will continue.
Inner City
Press:
Is it possible
to find out
whether this
board, because
he says… he
himself says
he's under
investigation,
but it's being
conducted from
Juba and not
from El Fasher
or Khartoum or
elsewhere
within the
actual
countries.
Deputy
Spokesman:
Sure. I
can
check.
Have a good
afternoon.
In the six
days after, no
information
was provided.
So on July 6,
Inner City
Press asked
Haq again. He
said he had no
more
information,
but that he
had asked
(Ladsous)
DPKO. That's
the Ladsousification
of the UN.
And even if
the UN
Security
Council
directed to
cut posts in
UNAMID, wouldn't
that begin
with VACANT
posts, not
those few
reporting on
attacks on
civilians?
We'll have
more on this.
As noted, 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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