In Haiti, UN of Two Minds on China, No Guidance on Bullets, Florida Football Games Blocking Medical Flights

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/haiti1bullets012910.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 29 -- Two days after the UN's spokesman in Haiti David Wimhurst denied knowing about UN Peacekeepers shooting even rubber bullets to control crowds of aid seekers, detailed reports emerged of "UN troops" shooting 50 caliber guns over crowds.

Inner City Press asked the UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes about these reports, and what the UN considers the best practice in crowd control while aid is distributed. "There is no set standard in the humanitarian lexicon," Holmes said, adding that the main focus is that nobody gets hurt. Video here, from Minute 26:03.

So are tasers okay? Tear gas? Electrified fences? Are these decision left up to each country's contingent adopting the UN's blue helmets in Haiti, including a battalion from Sri Lanka, accused of war crimes?

A stark different in the statements of David Wimhurst and Holmes was also raised but not resolved. On January 27, Wimhurst confirmed to the press that the Chinese search and rescue team, once it dug out the Chinese diplomats from the wreckage of the UN's rented Hotel Christopher, left the country.

But on January 28, Chinese diplomats told Inner City Press to check with John Holmes, who they cited as on record about additional Chinese work in Haiti -- a country with whose government China has no diplomatic relations, since Haiti recognized Taiwan.

Inner City Press asked Holmes to square this with what Mr. Wimhurt said. "I don't know what to add," Holmes said. "That's my understanding, the Chinese information as well." But was he a witness? Video here, from Minute 15:34.

Media in Florida reports that the flights evacuated injured Haitians to Florida have stopped, due to the upcoming Super Bowl and Pro Bowl of the National Football League. Inner City Press asked Holmes about this. "I have no idea," he said. "Ask the Americans."

A reporter whispered, "Touchdown!" -- referring also to Holmes "touchdown" space in the UN compound, now that others in his office have been moved full time to Madison Avenue. Football is only simulated war. But the UN in Haiti is shooting with real bullets. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/haiti1bullets012910.html

In Haiti, Chinese Team Dug Up Its Own and Left, UN Confirms, $94,000 Monthly Rent

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/haiti1rentchina012710.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 27 -- UN peacekeepers have been firing tear gas and, according to eye witnesses, rubber bullets at Haitian aid seekers. Meanwhile, the UN confirmed on Wednesday that the Chinese search and rescue team which appeared so quickly in Haiti left just as quickly, as soon as it recovered the bodies of its own national who had been visiting the UN Mission, MINUSTAH.

Inner City Press asked MINUSTAH's David Wimhurst about the use of rubber bullets and tear gas, which Wimhurst previously said he had not witnessed in Cite Soleil on January 24.

Wednesday, Wimhurst counted the Cite Soleil "incident" as one of two uses of tear gas. He said the use by the UN is under "strict rules and regulations" that are "well established." Video here, from Minute 32:31.

Wimhurst said he is "not aware of rubber bullets" being used, despite numerous eye witness accounts of both Uruguayan and Brazilian UN peacekeepers firing into the air. Inner City Press asked about similar reports of peacekeepers leaving behind food and in one case a pile of radios, which were then fought over.

Wimhust said he was "not aware of [these] being left behind," adding that battalions take their equipment with them. But these are transistor radios. Inner City Press asked him to confirm that the UN was paying $94,000 a month for the Christopher Hotel, now collapsed. "The number you mention is probably close to the amount," Wimhurst replied, saying that Security informs him the Hotel was MOSS compliant. Video here, from Minute 12:15. We'll see.

Wimhurst remained silent when asked to explicitly confirm that the Chinese search and rescue team left immediately after digging out its own national. But when asked twice to name a single other place in Haiti where the Chinese team had dug, he could not. "They went back to China," he said. Video here, from Minute 10:02.

China is this month's UN Security Council President. We will be pursuing this. Watch this site.

Footnote: The UN's noon briefing on Wednesday, 15 days after the Haiti earthquake, was limited to a video link to MINUSTAH, with no other UN questions taken on any other topic. Some said that Spokesman Martin Nesirky was still busy from having accompanied Ban Ki-moon into the Security Council earlier on Wednesday. But his Office has other staffers.

While Ban Ki-moon is slated for a stakeout on Wednesday afternoon, it is doubtful that many questions can be asked. To some, this appears to be an attempt by the UN to manipulate the press, to remain "on message," on Haiti and Ban's Wednesday announcement, about Afghanistan. What about Sudan? Somalia? Sri Lanka? Corruption? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/haiti1rentchina012710.html

In Haiti, UN Limits Aid to Women, Fires Tear Gas, Dismisses NGOs and Bilateral Aid

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/haiti1foodfire012510.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 25 -- Amid the suffering of the Haitian people, the UN's accelerating spin of its own centrality in the aid effort was on display on January 25. In Cite Soleil on January 24, a distribution of food and radios ended with UN Peacekeepers' deployment of tear gas and shooting into the air. Inner City Press asked the UN's principal deputy in Haiti, Tony Banbury, about it. Video here, from Minute 27:34.

Banbury said he was aware of the incident, that "distribution [had] not gone according to plan." But then the UN's director of communication in Haiti David Wimhurst passed Banbury a note and cut in. He said he had been there and that the distribution "went extremely well."

He clarified that at the end, when they had run out of food to distribute, people "got upset." But when Inner City Press asked him about the AFP reported tear gas, shooting in the air and leaving piles of radio behind for people to fight over, Wimhurst said he hadn't seen any of it. Video here, from Minute 29:50.

Previously, Wimhurst chided the Press for reporting on Haitian dissatisfaction with and protest of snafus in aid distribution. It's one thing to advocate for the media to cover your organization differently, quiet another to describe a distribution that ends in tear gas as having "gone well."

Later on Monday, Inner City Press asked World Food Program director Josette Sheeran dissatisfaction, including by the government of Thailand at the cost WFP would charge to transport rice it wants to donate to Haiti. Ms. Sheeran said that because of violence at food distributions, a way had to be found to be sure to reach women.

Inner City Press asked, do you do distributions by gender? Ms. Sheeran said yes. In fact, the distributions are limited to women. She was asked, what about households headed by men, including where the mother died in the earthquake. We'll deal with that later, Ms. Sheeran in essence said. Video here.

She impliedly chided, while appearing to praise, donors like Thailand who go bilateral, saying they better be sure their donations can be overloaded and stored. Banbury, who previously competed with Sheeran for the top WFP post, derided small NGOs who send a single plane with a few tents but "want a seat at the table." Video here, from Minute 32:28. Oh, civil society.

Inner City Press had asked Banbury to compare the reaction of government in Haiti and in Myanmar, where he worked on Cyclone Nargis while at WFP.

Banbury sidestepped Nargis, in which the UN system allowed the Than Shwe military government to siphon off up to 25% of aid in forced foreign exchange transactions, and focused rather on the UN's response to the tsunami, in Ache and Sri Lanka. Of the latter, he neglected to mention the widespread diversion of aid by the Rajapaksa government, which later used resources to bomb Tamil civilians in the north.

Monday's noon briefing ended with Inner City Press asking UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky two simple questions about Haiti, the first about a Canadian helicopter owner who shipped two copters to a UN base in the Dominican Republic, where he says they have laid unused for a week. Nesirky said he would look into it, but told Inner City Press it could have asked Banbury, but chose to ask another questions.

Inner City Press asked, since the UN was paying $94,000 a month rent for the Hotel Christopher which collapsed (and seemingly was not MOSS compliant), is the UN still paying rent? You could have asked that earlier, Nesirky said. "Let's see." Video here, from Minute 56:25.

Footnote: Ms. Sheeran of WFP and her spokeswoman demonstrated and then gave out a so called high energy biscuit, which Ms. Sheeran said came from El Salvador. The label says Ecuador. We will have more on the this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/haiti1foodfire012510.html