UNMAS
Admits Works
with FBI,
Spins Referral
on African
Skies Ltd
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up on
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 4 --
When UN Mine
Action Service
director Agnès
Marcaillou
took questions
on April 4,
Inner City
Press asked
her about whistleblowers'
complaints
against the
head of UNMAS
in Somalia,
David Bax.
Video
here.
The
UN told Inner
City Press
that its
Somalia
de-mining boss
David Bax was
fully
exonerated by
an
investigation
by the UN
Office of
Project
Services that
followed an
Inner City
Press exclusive
expose of Bax
sharing
information
with US
intelligence
through
Bancroft
Global
Development.
But Inner City
Press later
exclusively
obtained a
UNOPS letter
to Bax that
says "However,
the Internal
Audit and
Investigations
Group referred
several issues
to management,
including your
trip on an
African Skies
Limited
flight."
There
is a problem
here: as even
the UN's
report on
mercenaries in
Somalia notes,
Bancroft has
had a
financial
relationship
with African
Skies Limited,
to provide
security at
the Mogadishu
airport. Click
here for UN
report,
see Paragraph
45.
So a favor
from African
Skies Limited
is a favor
from Bancoft,
to which Bax
gave
information
including
genetic
information
from suicide
bombs.
On
April 4, Inner
City Press
asked Agnès
Marcaillou and
UN
Peacekeeping's
Dmitry Titov
about this
UNOPS letter
-- which Ms.
Marcaillou
told Inner
City Press she
had not
seen.
(The
whistleblower's
initial
complaint was
also sent to
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who
never
responded and
refuses to
answer Press
questions, see
video and
UK
coverage.)
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq, on
the UN video,
says to
Marcaillou
that UNOPS
clearly said
no further
measures were
warranted. Video at Minute 8:11.
What then does
the referral
back to
management of
the African
Skies issue
mean? We'll
have more on
this.
In the video,
Agnès
Marcaillou
says that the
UN works with
the US Federal
Bureau of
Investigation
-- she claims
the UN trains
them -- and
Titov speaks
of Bancroft,
which numerous
Somalia
sources say is
a company that
works with US
intelligence.
We'll have
more on this
too -- for
now, see this
video,
including Haq
at the end.
UNOPS'
Paul Lucas'
"Dear David"
letter, dated
December 9,
2013, also
references
sexual
harassment.
That involved,
among other
things,
putting UN
staff at risk
by doing
favors for "a
girlfriend,"
and breaking
the rules of
Bax' own UNOPS
camp.
The
larger
question is
even when the
UN conducts an
investigation
and announces
a results,
including case
exoneration,
can it be
believed? On
investigation
into charges
of gang rape
by UN
peacekeepers
in Mali, the
UN has told
Inner City
Press that the
investigation
is complete --
but not the
result.
Back
on November 4,
2013, Inner
City Press
asked Anton
Katz, Chair of
the UN
"Working Group
on the use of
mercenaries as
a means of
impeding the
exercise of
the right of
peoples to
self-determination"
about the
Group's report
on Somalia -
and if he had
met David Bax.
(He had, in
Cape Town.)
The report
states for
example that
"The
Working
Group was
informed by
UNMAS that to
avoid this
problem, their
agreement with
Bancroft
requires that
when
conducting EOD
and
counter-IED
operations,
Bancroft
employees must
remain a
minimum of 500
metres behind
any front
line. This
type of rule
might serve as
an appropriate
safeguard in
other
contracts as
well... The
Working Group
notes that at
least one
employee of
Bancroft
pleaded, and
was found,
guilty in a
South African
court of,
inter alia,
recruiting
persons for
mercenary
activities in
Côte d’Ivoire
and providing
logistical
support for
the venture
[See High
Court of South
Africa
(Transvaal
Provincial
Division),
case number
A2850/03 of 2
and 20 May
2005 (ZAGPHC
248).]"
Why
are the UN,
AMISOM and
UNMAS working
with Bancroft
Global
Development?
What do they
do together?
Inner City
Press has been
informed by
whistleblowers
beyond Somalia
that Bax has
been part of
the process by
which genetic
and DNA
information
from IED
bombings have
been
transferred to
US
intelligence.
There are also
detailed
accounts of
Bax using UN
and private
contractor
resources,
without
mandate, for a
close friend.
The problem
here, it is
reiterated, is
that it put
others at risk
on Bax's whim.
We'll have
more on this -
because the UN
Secretariat
says again and
again that it
puts staff
safety first.
This for
example is the
rationale, as
Inner City
Press also exclusively
reported, for
threatening to
close down in
New York the
UN cafeteria
and Dag
Hammarskjold
Library.
As
with January
Security
Council
president,
Inner City
Press offered
thanks to Katz
for the
briefing for
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
which will
continue to
push for
increased
transparency
from the UN on
cases like
that of Bax,
particuarly
given the
slated
changing of
the guard in
the UN
Spokesperson's
office, click
here for that.
Watch this
site.
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