By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 23 – One month after the UN in Iraq "lost" 25 weapons, as exclusively exposed by Inner City Press, its peacekeepers in Darfur were caught traveling through the airport with non-Mission guns.
When Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it on January 23, his canned response included calling reports that the peacekeepers were detained, false. Or course not - they have immunity!
Inner City Press asked for an update on the UN's supposed investigation into losing the 25 guns in Iraq, which was promised when Inner City Press asked after its exclusive story in December. No, Dujarric said, no update. Typical.
Back on December 20, the day after Inner City Press asked both US Ambassador Samantha Power and UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the UN Mission in South Sudan giving automatic weapons to warlord James Koang, who killed civilians, a new UN outrage was brought to the attention of Inner City Press and after its publishing and asking about it (video here), was confirmed by the UN.
Since the UN covered up its arming of South Sudan warlord Koang, and refuses to answer written questions including about its use of public funds, we published this report on this we'll follow up:
The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, under the authority of the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS), have “lost” 25 weapons from their armory in their base in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
The loss includes 18 Glock 9mm pistols, 5 G36 assault rifles, and 2 G36 sniper rifles. Sources say that 10,000s of thousands of rounds of ammunition are also missing.
DSS only discovered or internally acknowledged this months after the fact and cannot account for their loss. The UN's Fijian Guard Unit have had to start patrolling inside the base.
This is an outrage, on which we'll have more. At the UN "noon" briefing on December 20, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. Video here. At first he dodged, then got handed a statement by his deputy that confirmed that the "light" weapons are missing.
Since the UN covered up its arming of South Sudan warlord Koang, and refuses to answer written questions including about its use of public funds, we published this report on this we'll follow up:
The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, under the authority of the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS), have “lost” 25 weapons from their armory in their base in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
The loss includes 18 Glock 9mm pistols, 5 G36 assault rifles, and 2 G36 sniper rifles. Sources say that 10,000s of thousands of rounds of ammunition are also missing.
DSS only discovered or internally acknowledged this months after the fact and cannot account for their loss. The UN's Fijian Guard Unit have had to start patrolling inside the base.
This is an outrage, on which we'll have more. At the UN "noon" briefing on December 20, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. Video here. At first he dodged, then got handed a statement by his deputy that confirmed that the "light" weapons are missing.
