As UN's Ban Ki-moon Fetes His Envoys' Nepal Roles, Copter Co. Vertical-T is Suspended, UN Heats Up

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3nepal080608.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 6 -- As the UN celebrated its contribution to the Nepali peace process, in a ceremony Wednesday at which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech, more quietly news emerged that the UN helicopter contractor responsible for a deadly crash in Nepal in March has now quietly been suspended by the UN. Inner City Press had asked the UN's envoy to Nepal, Ian Martin, for his response to the national aviation authority's report which severely criticized the UN's contractor, Vertical-T. Mr. Martin had said he was not the one to answer, so the questions were directed elsewhere. And this written answer resulted:

Here is the reply from the UN Department of Field Support on your question... The State of Occurrence (Nepal), has provided the UN with a copy of the Final report. The report is currently being reviewed by the relevant Accredited Representatives to the accident investigation. As per established procedures, once the review has been completed DFS will follow up on all the recommendations in the report.

Meanwhile, for internal purposes, the UN convened a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to review the circumstances of the accident and make recommendations concerning any actions, steps or measures, which the board considers should be taken by the UN authorities to avoid the reoccurrence of such accidents.

Vertical-T has been suspended as a UN registered vendor. The reasons for the suspension are a lack of cooperation with the Nepalese Accident Commission and an inability to meet contractual requirements. The UN currently has no charter agreements with Vertical-T.

As for the procedures for modifying existing contracts or taking negative performance reviews into account in future contracting, DFS has established Aviation Quality Assurance and Accident Prevention Programs in place that address contractual, operational, performance and safety issues.

This reporter, in riding in a Vertical-T helicopter in Chad in June, noted that all safety information was in Russian, and communications with the pilots was impossible.

Footnote: at the Nepal even on Wednesday, on the other hand, Ban Ki-moon was sired around by Chinese Ambassador Wang, as Lynn Pascoe and Vijay Nambiar worked the crowd. There was grumbling, yes, about Ban's decision to raise the temperature in Headquarters, to save money and the environmental. The number of electric fans coming in continues to climb, and Ban is slated to leave on a vacation. Should the UN Department of Political Affairs have given advice on this?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3nepal080608.html