UN's Eliasson Looks Into Case of Louis Maxwell, Killed by Afghan National Forces, Still Sri Lanka Review, Deletion & Threats to FUNCA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- After UN security official Louis Maxwell was killed in Kabul, it seems clear by Afghan national forces, rather than fully push the government of Hamid Karzai for accountability, the UN took other actions.

  UN officials flew to meet Maxwell's family members who had contacted Inner City Press complaining of a cover up, and tried to convince them differently. 

  Inner City Press was told that it was difficult for the UN to push for “just one individual,” when so many have died in Afghanistan. That may be true, but runs counter to what the UN says about backing up its staff, and about accountability.

  In this context, after Ban Ki-moon's second term Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson gave a press conference about his recent trip to Afghanistan, Inner City Press asked him about Louis Maxwell's murder and what is being done. (Inner City Press asked two other questions, yet to be answered.)

  On Louis Maxwell, Eliasson to his credit said he would look into it and get back with an answer. And now, today, he has. On his way into the Security Council on Wednesday to speak on the protection of journalists, he told Inner City Press he had just sent his answer on Maxwell to the Spokesperson's office.

  And lo and behold, this has arrived, stating that “the Deputy Secretary-General has looked into the matter and has learned that the report of the Board of Inquiry into the attack suggested the possibility that Mr. Maxwell may have been killed by Afghan security forces” --

Subject: Afghanistan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 9:52 AM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

We have the following in response to your question to the Deputy Secretary-General at his recent press conference:

You asked the Deputy Secretary-General whether during his trip to Afghanistan there had been any discussion about Louis Maxwell, the Close Protection Officer who was one of the five United Nations staff members who lost their lives in the 2009 terrorist attack on the Bakhtar guest house in Kabul.

The Deputy Secretary-General can attest that the memory, as well as the legacy of the Bakhtar attack is still part of daily life for UNAMA staff who, since the attack, now live in the same secured and fortified compounds in which they work (although as the Deputy Secretary-General mentioned during his briefing, even there they have to spend some nights in bunkers).

While the Deputy Secretary-General discussed the need to protect civilians, including those working for international organizations, Mr. Maxwell's tragic death and that of his four UN colleagues and of the three Afghan security personnel who also perished in the attack, was not specifically discussed in his meetings.

The Deputy Secretary-General has looked into the matter and has learned that the report of the Board of Inquiry into the attack suggested the possibility that Mr. Maxwell may have been killed by Afghan security forces responding to the attack, who may have mistaken him for an insurgent.

The Secretary-General has called on the Afghan authorities to ensure a thorough investigation into the attack and the death of United Nations staff. We have yet to receive a formal response and we continue to seek one.

  How hard the UN will “continue to seek” a formal response remains to be seen. But Eliasson looking into it and having the above sent in much appreciated. It is to advance the right and ability of journalists to pursue such questions that Inner City Press co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access. 

   The UN Secretariat's most recent response? To threaten to suspend or withdraw the accreditation of Inner City Press, for merely hanging a sign of FUNCA on the door to its and its office mate's office. More soon on this other question. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ban Asks $86 Million for Security, No Answers on Budget in Kabul's Wake

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unama5sideline103009.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 30 -- In the wake of the killing of five UN staff members in Kabul, in New York Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday told the General Assembly he will ask for at least $86 million on top of the budget he presented earlier this week. The requests include a new $25 million emergency fund for security, and $50 million for a second Access Control Project -- which it is not clear would have covered the attacked Kabul guest house or facilities like it.

Ban's prepared remarks asked for "expanded authority to undertake new financial commitments in time of crisis. The current level of authority -- $1 million -- is simply not enough."

Earlier, when Inner City Press asked whether Ban would be funding his new three person investigation panel for Guinea from a $8 million fund for "unforeseen" expenses, Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas said she didn't know. A UN budget official said that the Secretary General can use this fund and simply report on its use at year's end. Inner City Press has asked for previous reports.

Meanwhile at press time in Afghanistan, Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah is reportedly prepared to announce a boycott of the second round. Inner City Press has asked Ms. Montas, without answer, if the UN was in touch with the candidate -- not Ashraf Ghani -- who came in third. Would his name now be entered in the run off?

At what was billed a a "town hall" meeting with UN staff about the killing of their colleagues, Ban and the two other speakers, Ann Veneman of UNICEF and the elusive Helen Clark of UNDP, did not take any questions from staff.

Afterwards, some staff stopped and told Inner City Press the budget request smacked of opportunism. One argued that the deaths in Algiers and now Kabul were more the product of UN staff being put in places their shouldn't be, rather than a lack of money.

In Algiers, a UN security official has recommended beefing up security and raising the threat level, but the UN didn't, in deference to the government. In Kabul, UN staff ere in a guest house, to which ISAF didn't respond for an hour.

More resources may be needed, but there are not sufficient if UN leadership does not have the will, including the willingness to stand up to host countries, to protect its staff. But as with the USA Patriot Act, who will dare to vote against these requests, in the wake of a bombing?

While to some this skepticism seems harsh, it is significant - and newsworthy - that is circulating in the UN, and at a not-low level. One wonders when the Secretariat will come forward with the specifics of its DSS budget, particularly the items aluded to on Friday, and if it will forthrightly ties or compare the requests to what happened at the Kabul guesthouse, or Algiers before that. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unama5sideline103009.html

In Wake of Kabul Bombing, UN Too Quickly Names the Target, While Stealth Staffer Mervyn Patterson Still Excluded

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/serenakabul011408.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 14 -- In the aftermath of the attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, news stories all over the world quoted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, meeting in a basement of the hotel, was the target. The quote was based on an impromptu encounter between Mr. Ban and three UN correspondents early Monday afternoon. As Ban approached along the second story corridor of the UN, coming out of a meeting in the Economic and Social Council chamber, one correspondent asked the other two, "What's the question of the day?"

Most questions at the UN's noon press briefing concerned the UN's still-withheld report about the December 11 bombing of UN facilities in Algiers. "I'll ask about Afghanistan," the first reporter said, and did. Mr. Ban quickly said that he was "very much surprised by this terrorist attack against the Foreign Minister of Norway, and I feel fortunate that he was not injured," and then spoke about an event he was headed to in Madrid, of the Alliance of Civilizations. Inner City Press asked, "Where do we stand on getting a new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan?" Mr. Ban replied, "I am still in the process of talking and interviewing. Thank you."

How well thought-out was the statement that Norway's Jonas Gahr Stoere was the target? Does the UN know more about Afghanistan than member states' intelligence services, none of which had opined on who the target was? In fact, the UN's main Afghanistan expert Mervyn Patterson, who was expelled from the country in late December for allegedly speaking with and carrying money to the Taliban, has still not been able to return. And as noted, the process of naming a new UN chief in Afghanistan is dragging on. So on what was Mr. Ban's statement based?

One of the first wire service reports of the attack, at 14:44 Greenwich Mean Time, involved DPA recounting the speculation of a newspaper in Norway:

"Interior Ministry Spokesman, Zemarai Bashary confirmed that the explosion took place near the Serena Hotel in downtown Kabul, but could not immediately provide further details about the cause or whether there were any casualties. But a report by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten noted that the Hotel Serena is where Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahre Store is currently staying and that two Norwegian nationals had been injured."

Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson routinely turns away questions by saying the UN will not respond to "press reports." In this case, the UN relied on a press report, and thus created more...

Update of January 15, at the UN noon briefing the day after the above report, Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson acknowledged that "There was really no additional information he had. It was obvious -- and we got the confirmation today -- that what the people targeted was the international presence and that's why the Serena Hotel was targeted. The Secretary-General did not have any special information at that time. However, the fact that the Foreign Minister was present in the hotel led him to believe that maybe it was a targeted attempt against his life."

And see, www.innercitypress.com/serenakabul011408.html