Comedy of Errors Delays UN Council in Kigali, Fuel Cash Collected, Wired Assurances

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1airkigali060908.html

KIGALI AIRPORT, June 9 -- In the UN Security Council's continuing comedy of errors attempting to travel from Goma to Abidjan, Ambassadors took up an impromptu collection of cash in the Kigali Airport's VIP suite. The UN plane needed fuel, and contractor CalTex would not accept any UN promise of payment in the future. Even the traveling press corps was ask to, in essence, put up or shut up. While some speculated that this was Rwanda's response to the UN's inaction during the 1994 genocide, and spoke of telephoning president Paul Kagame, South Africa's Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo responded that this would be like blaming and calling U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for a delay at an American airport.

Finally, the UN wired the $20,000 to CalTex, and the delegation was told it would take off in 15 minutes. Another problem loomed: had the pilot, from the UN contractor Swift, flown too many hours without a break? Swift flies two planes for the UN Mission in the Sudan, and has another plane in service from Kuwait to Iraq, cork-screwing down for landing. In the middle of the trip, one of the two back toilets went out of order, leading to odor, and the spraying of air freshener. They were asked, when will you fix it? Not until the end of the trip. And it just keeps getting better.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1airkigali060908.html