Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- While in Haiti the UN says it is actively investigating its reported killing of two people on April 12 in a street market following the shooting of UN peacekeeper, in Northern Kosovo its investigation of UNMIK's decision-making in re-taking a courthouse in Mitrovica has just gotten underway. Inner City Press' sources in Pristina tell of the arrival on April 26 of three officials of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and a UN-chosen Ugandan lawyer, Francis SSekandi, who previously serviced on the Rwanda genocide tribunal. We've made the name public. But will their report be made public?
This is always an uphill battle with the UN. Witness the UN's reaction Monday to charges that its peacekeepers in the Congo traded gold and guns with rebels. The UN gave a briefing, but only on condition that the briefers not be named. About Haiti, on Monday at the UN's briefing, Inner City Press asked "there are reports from Haiti that a protest has been filed with MINUSTAH (the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) after the death of the peacekeeper and the shooting up of street vendors and the destruction of their property and some deaths. Has MINUSTAH received a protest in that regard and is there an investigation?
Deputy Spokesperson: "I'll look into that for you."
Added later to the transcript:
"The Deputy Spokesperson later told the correspondent that, according to MINUSTAH, the mission says it has not been sent any complaint or protest directly, but it has received a copy of a letter from two local commercial associations (Association of the Defense of Haitian Merchants & Consumers and The Association for Small Businesses) addressed to the Government prosecutor, in which it is alleged that the two persons named were killed by MINUSTAH troops on 12 April 2008 following the public murder of a Nigerian United Nations Police, who was shot dead in the market in Belair. MINUSTAH is, of course, investigating these allegations, but has not found any facts to substantiate them. Consequently the allegations that any MINUSTAH personnel killed these individuals or subsequently removed their bodies from the scene remain unsupported by any evidence."
The individual named in Inner City Press follow-up written question were Amonese Pierre and Anna Ainsi Connu. While the UN has said it is investigating itself -- we have heard this before -- this particular case should continue to be followed, as a matter of the UN's own "Responsibility to Protect" and otherwise.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1investig042808.html
