UNITED NATIONS, July 13 -- Six months after the earthquake in Haiti, there's still rubble in the streets and little has been fixed. Inner City Press on July 12 asked Nigel Fisher, the UN's acting humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, what he made of criticism of UN envoy Bill Clinton, along with the government, moving too slow.
Between March and June, Fisher answered, they worked on the terms of reference. Is this why the UN appointed Bill Clinton as a tzar? To sit still?
Another aspect to the delay, well informed sources tell Inner City Press, has been the play by the UN Development Program's Helen Clark to try to win control of the trust fund from the World Bank, in order to gain the fee income associated with it. For shame.
Inner City Press asked Fisher to confirm that UN Mission chief of staff Bernard Ouellette had been removed from the job by the Canadian military. I can't comment on that, Fisher said.
UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq was moderating the video link up from Port au Prince. Inner City Press asked him about Ouellette. We haven't been told the reason, Haq said.
It's sexual misconduct. Inner City Press asked, did it violate not only Canadian but also UN rules? As Haq formulated an answer, Fisher cut in. He did not break any UN rules, Fisher said. What happened to he couldn't comment on it?
Especially when Canada says the improper relationship was not with another Canadian?
Also on July 12, the UN's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlstrom talked about the Haiti earthquake, and Mexico City's efforts after its quake in the 80s. Inner City Press asked Wahlstrom about Mexico City's efforts on pollution, and UN's perceived partiality in the water wars in Central Asia.
Only one U.S. city has joined the UN's safe cities campaign: North Little Rock. Wahlstrom said it is a city of 80,000, and ascribing joining to the mayor. No Bill Clinton connection?
