UNITED NATIONS, January 13 -- With the UN's main compound in Haiti in the former Hotel Christoper having collapsed, along with humanitarian concern, questions arose about the appropriateness of the facility.
Back in 2008, Inner City Press repeatedly asked the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations how it had been selected and how much the UN paid for it. Finally, DPKO provided this response which Inner City Press exclusively reported:
"the main MINUSTAH headquarters complex (The Christopher Hotel) is rented directly from a private individual (Dr. Gerard Desir) at the rate of $3.86 per square meter. The total complex is 24,383 square meters which includes parking, office space, pre-fab office space, canteen and conference space. The total monthly rent is thus $94,000. Please note that this does not include the MINUSTAH logbase, which is located on a plot of land provided at no cost by the Haitian Government. The decision to select the Hotel Christopher was based on a locally-completed analytical process which determined that this facility was one of the few premises in Port au Prince which would meet the Mission's requirements with regards to space, water and power . It is also in a neighbourhood that was judged in 2004 to be among the safest in Port au Prince."
On the evening of January 12, DPKO chief Alain Le Roy briefed select journalists while Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, initially silent on a Long Island retreat while officials from U.S. President Obama to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer issued statements, later said he had spoken with Bill Clinton and U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice.
Inner City Press asked DPKO if the Christopher Hotel had been judged MOSS (Minimum Operations Safety Standard) compliant by UN Security. There has been no answer yet.
The UN announced that Mr. Ban, along with Peacekeeping and Humanitarian officials, will take questions from the press on Wednesday morning at 8:20 a.m.. Watch this site.
