UNITED NATIONS, September 3 -- What seems a mere mystery of Nepali armored personnel carriers delayed on their way to the UN mission in Darfur has become a corruption scandal. For months Inner City Press has asked the UN about the eight APCs meant for the Nepali formed police unit in Darfur. Explanations varied from the need to train the Nepalis in their use, to Sudan blocking them because the trainers were British. UN Peacekeeping's highest officials offered assurances that it was all being solved.
Now the Nepali legislature has started an investigation of "extortion," of underpayment by the UN, and insufficiency all around. And despite all the previous questions, the UN so far has no answer to the follow up Inner City Press asked on September 3:
Inner City Press: There is this issue of the Nepalese, Nepali formed police unit in UNAMID in Sudan and these APC’s that were never, that were not supposed to be delivered there. Now it’s come out that they… it’s been reported by the Nepali press that the APC’s are useless and dangerous, and that Nepal will not be paid for them and parliament has started an investigation into what they call embezzlement. I would assume that UNAMID or DPKO have something… in the past they blamed Sudan for these APC’s… having been called in for Sudan. What has actually happened? Has UNAMID found that they are unusable?
Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: I have not received anything from UNAMID or DPKO on this subject. So let’s see if they will have an update for you.
Eight hours later, no answer at all. Rather, an answer belatedly came in on the 27 Nigerian soldier who were not paid after their service as UN peacekeepers. The soldiers not surprisingly protested. The surprise was, they were charged with mutiny, latest reduced to seven more years in prison. Inner City Press asked what the UN thought of such jail time for people who had served DPKO and not been paid.
After a time, this statement came in:
Subj: Nigerian Peacekeepers in Jail
From: unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 9/3/2009 12:02:53 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
In response to your question(s) on Nigerian peacekeepers who served in the UN Mission in Liberia and were later jailed for protesting the non-payment of their entitlements, we have the following response:
Nigeria has been an outstanding contributor to UN peacekeeping and while the matter is a domestic issue, the UN is aware of it and has raised it - through the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, during a recent visit - with the Nigerian Government.
But we knew Le Roy raised it -- we asked him before he went to Nigeria, and sought a read out when he returned. He said he'd asked for "indulgence." The question is, are seven year sentences acceptable? Watch this site.
