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UN Abductions in Pakistan, Like Fowler's
in Niger, Shrouded in Security Secrets, Selective Disclosures
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 2 -- As
the UN maintained its silence on the disappearance
of its Canadian envoy Robert Fowler in Niger
on December 13, Monday it shielded another abduction in secrecy, that
of John
Solecki, an American representative of the UN refugee
agency in Quetta, Pakistan,
during which another UN employee, Syed Hashim,
was killed. Three days
after reporting the background
statement of a Permanent Five Ambassador of the UN Security Council
that Fowler
"is alive," Inner City Press asked the UN to confirm that is its
understanding. "I have nothing further to add," UN Deputy
Spokesperson Marie Okabe said. "As soon as I have news I'll let you
know."
Video here,
from Minute 22:08.
But Ms. Okabe's associate
Farhan Haq was quoted in the Canadian press
that Ban Ki-moon met with Fowler's wife Mary, a piece of news that
was never said
at a noon briefing nor conveyed to Inner City Press or others. Inner
City Press
on Monday asked if Ban had met with the families of Louis Guay or
driver
Soulmania Mounkaila. Despite Haq's on
the record comment as to Fowler, Ms. Okabe did not answer about the
other two.
Regarding Quetta, Inner City Press asked what the
UN's security phase
is. "That's not something we'd make public," Ms. Okabe said. Video
here,
from Minute 21:55.
As in Niger, an empty white UN vehicle, security
after the fact
But
the phase in Quetta was disclosed in an October
2008 news article which stated
that
"recommendations
enhancing the Security Phase were sent to the UN headquarters in New
York. They
said the Pakistani authorities concerned tried to convince the UN not
to
enhance the Security Phase in Pakistan, as it would hurt the status of
the
country internationally. But they failed to convince the UN
headquarters and
the secretary-general eventually approved enhancing the security phase
in some
parts of Pakistan from phase-II to phase-III. A senior UN official,
when
contacted by The News, said following the declaration of Security
Phase-III in
Islamabad, Rawalpindi, nine districts of Balochistan, including the
provincial
capital Quetta, the spouses and children of the international staff of
the UN
would be required to be relocated temporarily."
What
security did Messrs. Solecki
and Hashim have?
What was and is the UN
Security
phase in Niger?
Why was there no UN
security with
Fowler and his two companions as they traveled through Niger?
The questions pile up,
and the UN
stays silent.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece 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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