In
Haiti,
UN Admits APC in Ditch, In Denial on Shooting & Cholera
Origins, Clinic
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 23 -- The UN's dismissive attitude in Haiti to
those who question it was on display on Tuesday when MINUSTAH chief
Edmond Mulet repeatedly called demonstrations on the possible role of
UN peacekeepers in introducing cholera politically motivated.
He
insisted that other than a case where 100 people with “machetes and
guns” attacked four peacekeepers, they had not fired nor killed any
other protester.
Inner
City Press
asked about a November 17 incident in Cap Haitien where a UN armored
personnel carrier fell into a ditch and had bottles thrown at it,
after which witnesses say a civilian was shot dead. Mulet
acknowledged an APC in a ditch, but denied any exchange of fire.
The
UN's Nigel
Fisher, and then Mulet, called the Cedimat clinic in the Dominican
Republic “independent” and credible. But Mulet confirmed that
Cedimat has had a contract with MINUSTAH since 2004. The head doctor
specializes in obesity. “Maybe the director general has another
specialty,” Mulet said.
UN's Ban shown around by Mulet (&
Montas), Nov 17 shooting & cholera origins not shown
On
November 22, Inner
City Press
asked UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about
reports that a Chilean component of the MINUSTAH force engaged with
demonstrators in Cap Haitien in a separate incident on November 15,
following which a dead body was found
on 24th Street. Video here,
from Minute 45:09. To questions about the source of the
cholera and how it has been investigated, Haq referred back to
previous answers.
Afterward,
the
UN's deputy for Field Support Tony Banbury,
previously quoted that
three rapes in the Haitian camp “almost elated him,” was reportedly
providing more UN perspective to a wire service based in a country
which previously occupied Haiti.
The
UN has
previously had Banbury give exclusive interviews on topics of wider
concern, during his Banbury would deny “conspiracy theories”
without having to directly engage the arguments against the UN (for
example, in the alleged cover up
of the murder of UN staff member
Louis Maxwell by Afghan National Forces, click here for that).
While
one can
debate the appropriateness of such a “spin strategy” anywhere by
the UN, in the case of Haiti it has worked particularly badly. The
failure to investigate, and statements
to the effect that it doesn't
matter where the cholera came from, have led to deadly protests
against the UN. Deadly for the protesters -- and it is not yet clear
how many. Watch this site.
* * *
In
Haiti,
UN
Fires Into Crowds, Says Its Only Focus Is Future, Not How
Cholera Arrived
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
15 -- With protesters in Haiti
still blaming the UN for
the deadly cholera outbreak, and UN
peacekeepers
reportedly opening
fire on the crowds, at UN headquarters on Monday Inner City Press
asked the UN's interim humanitarian coordinator for Haiti Nigel
Fisher why the UN had not acted to fully investigate reports of UN
peacekeepers' roles in bringing or spreading the disease. Video here,
from
Minute
22:21.
“My focus is on
how to stop” the disease, Fisher replied. But even the UN's deputy
special envoy Paul Farmer denounced this approach, call it more
politics than science. Beyond being anti scientific, it appears in
this case that the UN's attempts to brush off complaints and not
fully investigate them has come back to haunt the UN, as suspicions
have only grown.
Inner
City
Press
asked when the last time cholera had been present in
Haiti. “There has never before been cholera in Haiti,” Fisher
answered.
Fisher
characterized
as
“political manipulation” the claims by the Mayor
of Mirebalais that the disease may have come from the UN Peacekeeping
base there, staffed by peacekeepers from Nepal. But the Centers for
Disease Control, even Fisher acknowledged Monday, said the strain is
a strain which originated in South Asia.
Nigel Fisher by video, facts on MINUSTAH role not
shown, (c) MRLee
Some
in
the UN
system say that even looking into the role of the peacekeepers from
Nepal is somehow racist. But political correctness can lead to riots
in which UN peacekeepers are shooting into crowds of Haitians. Which
is worse? Watch this site.
, 
