UNITED
NATIONS, July
5 -- After the
UN introduced
cholera to
Haiti and then
dismissed
claims for
legal
accountability,
19 members of
the US
Congress wrote
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on May
30 urging him
to take
responsibility.
Inner
City Press wrote about
the letter and
put it online
on June 1,
and asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about it on
June 3,
transcript
here.
Nesirky said
he had no
comment on the
letter but if
he had
anything
later, he'd
tell Inner
City Press.
A full
month later on
July 2, having
hear nothing,
Inner City
Press asked
US Acting
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo about
the letter.
She said she
hadn't seen it;
later
one of her
spokespeople
Kurtis Cooper
told Inner
City Press, on the
letter, to ask
the UN.
On
Friday July 5,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
Associate
Spokesman
Farhan Haq,
who said the
letter “will
be responded
to.” Video
here, from
Minute 15:20.
Inner
City Press
followed up,
you mean it
hasn't been?
Past 5
pm on Friday,
Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office
announced over
the UN
internal
“squawk”
system that a
copy of Ban's
response was
available
downstairs.
And there it
was: a three
page “Dear
Congresswoman”
letter dated
July 5, 2013.
Inner City
Press has
scanned the
letter,
initially as a
photo of each
page: Page
1 Page 2
Page
3
Now
as PDFs: Page
1
Page
2 Page 3
A
portion - with
the most
troubling
lines not
included --
was sent to
plaintiffs'
counsel by
Ban's outgoing
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien, here.
And
here's Ban's
letter to the
Congress
members, as a
single PDF.
It
concludes that
on
accountability,
“the claim was
considered by
my Legal
Counsel
[Patricia
O'Brien]
and... the
claim is not
receivable.”
Ban
then says, “I
would like to
assure you
that the legal
decision does
not in any way
diminish my
personal
commitment.”
Really?
The
19 members of
Congress who
wrote to Ban
Ki-moon
include:
Maxine Waters,
Barbara Lee,
Yvette D.
Clarke,
Frederica S.
Wilson, Jan
Schakowsky,
John Conyers,
Jr., Alcee L.
Hastings,
Charles B.
Rangel,
Corrine Brown,
Donald M.
Payne, Jr.,
Bobby L. Rush,
Wm. Lacy Clay,
Raúl M.
Grijalva,
Debbie
Wasserman
Schultz, John
Lewis, Gregory
W. Meeks,
Donna F.
Edwards, Keith
Ellison and
Carolyn B.
Maloney.
, 
