In Liberia, UN Mission Does Not Recognize Union or Diamond Distributive Justice

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, September 7 -- Diamonds in Liberia connote rebels buying weapons, civilians being killed. Other observers note that profits from diamonds, now that the UN Security Council has lifted sanctions, need to be distributed beyond a privileged elite. Friday at UN Headquarters, Inner City Press asked Alan Doss, Ban Ki-moon's special representative in Liberia, about the diamond issue. Video here, from Minute 50:04.

   Mr. Doss said that a UN diamond sanctions expert is in Liberia now, preparing a report, emphasizing that "the problem is if they end up in the wrong hands." But the "right-ness" of hands is not only a matter of barring them from rebels. The poor, the majority, should share in the profits if there are to be any, according to a detailed study.

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Doss about his Mission's decision in April of this year to cease to recognize the National Staff Association of UNMIL. Mr. Doss said it had to do with loans taken to be re-lent to members; he said that even the UN Staff Union in New York has called for an audit.

            UNMIL's Director of Administration Stephen Lieberman, in an April 14, 2007 "Dear Colleagues" letter, wrote that "I conclude that the leadership of NASA in its current composition and standing is no longer in a position to effectively represent the national staff of UNMIL."  But who decides them -- management or the staff?

Liberian elections back in October 2005

            A Staff Union report on the matter "noted that the Director of Administration had never met with the elected NASA officials in this and other regard... The standoff between the NASA leadership and the UNMIL Administration is orchestrated by... Ms. Stephani Scheer, and supported by the Director of Administration who, apparently, is yet to consolidate and leverage his authority, given that he is new to the Mission."

            Inner City Press asked if representatives of the national staff unions of UNMIL and of MONUC in the Congo are coming to New York. Mr. Doss said that the Department of Field Support is holding a meeting about turning independent contractors into staff members (or letting them go), and that both MONUC and UNMIL will participate. As to UNMIL, the Security Council is expected to ended its mandate for another year, while considering the Secretary-General's plan to "drawdown" from the force. More to follow.

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Clck here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (which had to be finalized without Ban's DPA having responded.)  Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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