After Guinea Bissau Coup, UN Just Follows, Confers with Drug Kingpin Host

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- More than a day after the coup d'etat in Guinea Bissau, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman issued the following statement:

"The United Nations is following reports of armed activities heard in Bissau on 12 April. The Secretariat is in close consultation on the matter with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Guinea-Bissau and the United Nations team on the ground."

Ban's wan response stands in contrast to the speed which which he "deplored" the failed rocket launch by his old nemesis North Korea. His envoy to Guinea Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, hosted a listed drug kingpin in the UN compound there.

Then again, Ban's briefer to the Security Council Friday morning about North Korea was Oscar Fernandez Taranco, the Argentine who recently schooled his own country on how to raise the Malvinas or Falkland Islands at the UN, and who went to post-coup Maldives and in essence gave Ban's blessing. Could he do the same in Guinea Bissau?

More seriously there was talk of giving a UN Security Council mandate to the Angolan soldiers who are already in Guinea Bissau.

There was less said, at least at the UN, at the disappeared blogger Aly Silva, author of Ditadura do Consenso. Guinea Bissau was dealt with by the Council between North Korea and Syria. Portugal's Permanent Representative Cabral was asked to specify who much time the Council spent on North Korea versus Guinea Bissau. That's not the way to judge it, he said. Some issues can be quickly solved. Which one would that be? Watch this site.

UN Housed Drug Kingpin in Guinea Bissau for 3 Months, Because "He Needed Protection"- What's Next, Pedophiles and Terrorists?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1drugpin071510.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 15 -- When Guinea Bissau's former Navy chief of staff Bubo Na Tchuto entered the country in December, by canoe, he was allowed to take refuge in the UN compound.

Even then, Bubo Na Tchuto was widely known to be involved in narcotics trafficking. Nevertheless, the UN continued to provide shelter to Bubo Na Tchuto until the April 1 mutiny, at which time he left the UN and has remained at large, wielding power.

Why did the UN provide this service to what the U.S. now calls a “drug kingpin”? At the UN's July 15 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq just this.

Haq replied that “the office was acting on the basis of express concerns if the individual left the building, there would be a threat to his life.” Video here, from Minute 8:28.

That a drug kingpin might face some dangers is axiomatic. Inner City Press asked if the UN would apply the same standard, and provide the same services, to a terrorist.

Haq declined to answer, saying the the head of the UN Mission in Guinea Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, be taking questions at the Security Council stakeout.

While Mutaboba's media availability was announced, it was never held.

Rather, Inner City Press asked U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affair Brooke Anderson, in her first stakeout, the following question:

Inner City Press: one of the two people named as kingpins, Bubo Na Tchuto, was actually put up by the United Nations, was held in the UN compound, was protected in December for several months. I'm just wondering, what does the U.S. think, does the U.S. think that was a bad decision for the UN to essentially provide protection and supper [succor] to a man that is now known as a drug kingpin?

Ambassador Anderson: We have designated him as a drug kingpin, we are taking action to address this issue and we are concerned about the fact that he was in the UN compound.

This concern was in turn reported by Reuters. But if the U.S. is concerned, what accountability will there be for those who allowed the drug kingpin in, and to stay for three months?

In the UN, there is rarely accountability. Even now, the UN appears unable to say that it made a mistake. Back in December, Inner City Press asked a senior UN official about Bubo Na Tchuto. We think he didn't like his exile in Gambia, was the response. We are arranging another exile. It never happened.

Here is a question: while staying with the UN, to where to Bubo Na Tchuto make phone calls? Who paid for that?

More generally, in Jamaica Dudus Coke certainly faced a threat on his life. Would the UN house him for three months? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1drugpin071510.html