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UN Security Brass Let Off Hook on
Fowler, On Promotions, Investigation Called For
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 19 --
The lack of accountability of those in charge of UN Security continues,
both in
the field and in New York, where the UN Staff Union has passed a
resolution
calling for an independent investigation of promotion and placement
irregularities
uncovered two weeks ago by Inner City Press.
The UN's envoy to Niger,
Canadian
diplomat Robert
Fowler, who was abducted while traveling to Canadian-owned gold
mine in the country in December 2008, has now appeared as a hostage
in a video,
for which Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claims credit. Still the UN
has not
answered what Fowler was doing, nor why he was allowed by the UN to
travel
without security, while in a UN Development Program vehicle, the driver
of
which has disappeared entirely.
At the February
18 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy
Spokesperson Marie Okabe, "it’s been reported that the Al-Qaida in
Islamic
Maghreb has said that they are holding Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay. Is the UN aware of that? They
have also said that they’re asking for a
prisoner exchange. What’s the UN’s
position in response to this?" Ms. Okabe replied, "We’re aware of the
reports but we have nothing further to comment on it."
The UN has had very little to say about Mr. Fowler's
activities and
disappearance, leading some to conclude they simple want the story to
go away.
The UN's silence on Fowler stands in contrast to the fast UN press
releases on
a more
recent kidnapping, in Pakistan. Inner City Press asked, "just
recently, in Pakistan, when a group said that they had a UNHCR
official... the
local office put out a press release saying speak with us directly. Is that decision made by the local office in
each case or by Headquarters?"
Ms. Okabe answered that, "both cases are
very different, as in all cases involving a hostage situation. So, I really could not go into further
details on that."
Two weeks ago, the UN's refusal to answer questions
about security,
including what accountability steps have been taken about the December
2007
deadly bombing of the UN in Algiers, was a introduction to Inner City
Press'
reporting on promotion irregularities within the UN Department of
Safety &
Security, DSS.
UN DSS in 2004, at right now with dog days to CMP?
Since
that report, the official who e-mailed out the
inappropriately pre-decided promotions and placements has written a
letter
saying he was defamed by other DSS personnel at special meetings held
on
February 11 about Inner City Press' report. It seems that if a person's
own
document defames them, their only option to sue is to sue themselves.
On February 18, the Staff Union unanimous adopted a
resolution noting
the DSS staff's "vote of no confidence in the management of the SSS of
DSS." This management, Inner City Press is told, is trying to shift to
the
UN Capital Master Plan. The resolution notes "that information revealed
in
recent [P]ress reports appears to cast doubt on the integrity of the
staff
selection process" and "decides to call on the Secretary-General to
establish an independent external investigation to review recent
personnel
actions within the SSS." The resolution, by its terms, will be conveyed
to
the Secretary-General, the heads of the Budget Committee and Advisory
Committee
on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and the President of the
General
Assembly. Watch this site.
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
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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