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In
UN
Cover-Up, Bax
Orders Staff
Silence or
Practiced
Responses
After ICP Blog
Exposes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 19,
updated --
Beginning on June 22,
Inner City
Press has exclusively
reported on
how UN
official David
Bax in
Mogadishu
helps share
genetic
evidence with
US
intelligence
while engaging
in favoritism
and alleged
sexual
harassment.
For
weeks now the
UN has told
Inner City
Press that Bax
is being
investigated
and that it
will have
nothing to say
until that
investigation,
by the UN
Office for
Project
Services, is
completed. (On
September 12,
the UN's
Somalia envoy
Nicholas Kay
told Inner
City Press, on-camera,
that he is
aware of the
investigation.)
But
it's worse:
Inner City
Press has
obtained and
is exclusively
reporting on a
copy of an
e-mail Bax
sent to those
who might be
contacted by
UNOPS,
specifically
trashing "blog
Inner City
Press" and
telling them
that "none of
you should
feel that you
HAVE to speak
to" the
investigators.
Urging
or ordering
his
subordinates
to show their
loyalty to
him, Bax tells
them "it is
now time for
us all to pull
together and
help each
other get past
this
unpleasant
episode...
There is no
need to
involve anyone
external... I
will always be
loyal to all
of you. I know
I can count on
you to do the
same."
Bax
tells those
under him,
"you are in no
way obligated
to speak.
Also, if any
of you would
be more
comfortable
going over
likely
questions, I
would be happy
to sit down
with any of
you in advance
to discuss and
help you to
anticipate
line of
inquire [sic]
and practice
responses."
This
is called a
cover-up,
including
intimidation
and coaching
of witnesses.
Is this the
way the UN
does
investigations
-- even as it
defends its Syria
chemical
weapons report
which
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
"overwhelming"
even before he
saw it?
(Ironically,
Ban's
Syria report
was also hyped
in advance
by the praiser
or
rehabilitator
of Bax,
who sources
tell Inner
City Press is
working,
albeit slowly,
on a
follow-up.
Perhaps Bax --
or is it Ban?
-- needs more
help and
service.)
For two
days
this week,
as the UN has
canceled like
today its noon
briefing for
photo-ops in
which Ban
Ki-moon takes
either no or
few questions,
carefully
selected,
Inner City
Press has
asked Ban's
Office of the
Spokesperson
in writing:
"What
is
the UN's
reaction -
denial? - of
allegation
that in
Somalia an
AMISOM
contingent, on
information
and belief
from Burundi,
provides
services to
UNMAS' David
Bax?"
There
has been no
response to
that, even as
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
was informed
of l'affaire
Bax and did
nothing, has provided
acknowledgments
of rape
charges
against a Sri
Lankan UN
peacekeeping
in Haiti,
and over 100
Chadian
peacekeepers
walking off
the job in
Northern Mali.
As
obtained by
Inner City
Press, Bax'
cover-up email
involves a
senior DPKO
spokesperson
and, at the
top, Jo
Nickolls, who
is the head of
UN Resident
Coordinator
Philippe
Lazzarini's
office. We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this site.
Update:
more than 24
hours after
publication of
the above,
this came in:
Date:
Fri, Sep 20,
2013 at 5:27
PM
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Subject: Your
questions on
Somalia
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding your
recent emailed
questions on
Somalia, we
have the
following
responses from
the Department
for
Peacekeeping
Operations:
The African
Union Mission,
AMISOM, does
play a role in
support of
security for
some United
Nations
activities in
Somalia. We do
not discuss in
detail United
Nations
security
arrangements,
especially in
a volatile
context such
as Somalia.
As for your
question about
an email, DPKO
says that it
will not
comment on
quotes from a
purported,
unauthenticated
email. The
UNOPS inquiry
continues and
UNOPS and DPKO
have nothing
further to say
on the matter
while this is
the case.
While
Inner City
Press has not
directly asked
the UN about
Bax' e-mail,
one would
think that
urging
potential
witnesses not
to speak to
the
investigators,
or to get
coached, would
cause concern
- especially
for an
organization
that wants its
reports, like
on Syria, to
be viewed as
credible.
* * *
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