After Inner City Press Scoop on UN in Iraq Losing 25 Guns Confirmed Still No One Held Accountable Under Guterres

After Inner City Press Scoop on UN in Iraq Losing 25 Guns Confirmed Still No One Held Accountable Under Guterres

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 -- At the UN, nothing gets fixed. Guns are stolen or go missing, as Inner City Press exclusively reported in 2016 about Iraq before being roughed up and banned by Antonio Guterres - and now from whistleblowers there, this update: "I am a UN employee... I saw a video for you questioning the scandal about the 23 lost weapons from the UNAMI Armory since 2016...   Till this date the people responsible for the armory are still in place and no action was taken and no information about the weapons was known. The worst case is that there is 28000 armored piercing rounds of 5.56mm caliber and 117000 9mm pistol round (RUAG factory ) were also missing." This is UN negligence and impunity. Back in December 2016 - before Guterres arrived and had Inner City Press roughed up and banned, 249 days and counting - the day after Inner City Press asked both US Ambassador Samantha Power and UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the UN Mission in South Sudan giving automatic weapons to warlord James Koang, who killed civilians, a new UN outrage was brought to the attention of Inner City Press and after its publishing and asking about it (video here), was confirmed by the UN.

   Since the UN covered up its arming of South Sudan warlord Koang, and refuses to answer written questions including about its use of public funds, we published this report on this we'll follow up:

The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, under the authority of the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS), have “lost” 25 weapons from their armory in their base in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

The loss includes 18 Glock 9mm pistols, 5 G36 assault rifles, and 2 G36 sniper rifles. Sources say that 10,000s of thousands of rounds of ammunition are also missing.

DSS only discovered or internally acknowledged this months after the fact and cannot account for their loss. The UN's Fijian Guard Unit have had to start patrolling inside the base.

   This is an outrage, on which we'll have more. At the UN "noon" briefing on December 20, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. Video here. At first he dodged, then got handed a statement by his deputy that confirmed that the "light" weapons are missing.

UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you on Iraq, yesterday, I'd asked you about the South Sudan, and it seems like there's an acknowledgment that weapons were given to this James Koang and… with some reasoning. I wanted to ask you now, and maybe you'll know this or you can find out. I've heard that UNAMI [United Nations Assistance Mission] in Iraq run by DSS [Department of Safety and Security] has lost… has lost control of 25 weapons, including 18 Glock pistols, including 2 sniper rifles. And what I wanted to know is, one, it seems like it's pretty serious if it's happened. It would be twice that weapons have gone to unknown people that may kill people with them. But what is the protocol of UN Missions informing the Security Council when heavy lethal weapons… they either give them over voluntarily or, in this case, seemed to have lost possession of them?

Spokesman: I'm not aware of the details of the investigation that may be going on in Iraq. If I have something to share with you, I will. I think, as we said yesterday, the incidents in South Sudan happened a number of years ago. It was a very tense situation in the beginning of the civil war. I think better procedures were then put in place to ensure that weapons that are confiscated are then destroyed, and that's the policy that's in place in the Mission.

ICP Question: Right. But can you get some answer on Iraq? I just…

Spokesman: If I have something to share with you, I will share it with you.

Minutes later after being handed a sheet of paper, Dujarric read out:

My colleague Farhan [Haq], who's always very quick, has given me some guidance on the Iraq weapons issue. I can tell you that it was discovered that several small arms and light weapons were missing from the armoury in Baghdad. Physical check of all UN compounds and inventories was immediately conducted and efforts to locate and recover the missing weapons continue. Thorough fact-finding/investigation into this very unfortunate occurrence was immediately started, and it is ongoing. The respective Iraqi authorities, as well as the UN Secretariat, have been informed and are providing cooperation and assistance, as necessary.

ICP Question: Just one quick follow-up on that. I just wanted; I hear small arms/light weapons. We hear the term a lot. Inner City Press has reported prior to this briefing that this involves not only Glock pistols but five G36 assault rifles and two G36 sniper rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. So I guess my question is, one, does that fall under the definition of sniper rifles?

Spokesman: Sniper rifles… several small arms/light weapons.

ICP Question: Why does the UN have sniper rifles?

Spokesman: This is part of the protection team for the UN in Baghdad.

ICP Question: And what would be the… what would be the, I guess, accountability if these sniper rifles and presumably marked ammunition are used to kill civilians in Iraq?

Spokesman: I think our focus right now is on recovering these weapons.

Since that confirmation, nothing from Dujarric and many leaving the UN off the hook. Then Inner City Press was roughed up and banned, to try to ensure impunity. We will not rest.

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

UN Office, past & future?: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now UNder Guterres: UN Delegates Entrance Gate
and mail: Dag H. Center Box 20047, NY NY 10017 USA

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.