By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 23 -- The UN's dismissive attitude in Haiti to those who question it was on display on Tuesday when MINUSTAH chief Edmond Mulet repeatedly called demonstrations on the possible role of UN peacekeepers in introducing cholera politically motivated.
He insisted that other than a case where 100 people with “machetes and guns” attacked four peacekeepers, they had not fired nor killed any other protester.
Inner City Press asked about a November 17 incident in Cap Haitien where a UN armored personnel carrier fell into a ditch and had bottles thrown at it, after which witnesses say a civilian was shot dead. Mulet acknowledged an APC in a ditch, but denied any exchange of fire.
The UN's Nigel Fisher, and then Mulet, called the Cedimat clinic in the Dominican Republic “independent” and credible. But Mulet confirmed that Cedimat has had a contract with MINUSTAH since 2004. The head doctor specializes in obesity. “Maybe the director general has another specialty,” Mulet said.
On November 22, Inner City Press asked UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about reports that a Chilean component of the MINUSTAH force engaged with demonstrators in Cap Haitien in a separate incident on November 15, following which a dead body was found on 24th Street. Video here, from Minute 45:09. To questions about the source of the cholera and how it has been investigated, Haq referred back to previous answers.
Afterward, the UN's deputy for Field Support Tony Banbury, previously quoted that three rapes in the Haitian camp “almost elated him,” was reportedly providing more UN perspective to a wire service based in a country which previously occupied Haiti.
The UN has previously had Banbury give exclusive interviews on topics of wider concern, during his Banbury would deny “conspiracy theories” without having to directly engage the arguments against the UN (for example, in the alleged cover up of the murder of UN staff member Louis Maxwell by Afghan National Forces, click here for that).
While one can debate the appropriateness of such a “spin strategy” anywhere by the UN, in the case of Haiti it has worked particularly badly. The failure to investigate, and statements to the effect that it doesn't matter where the cholera came from, have led to deadly protests against the UN. Deadly for the protesters -- and it is not yet clear how many. Watch this site.
