In UN Mine Action Service Complaints Of Harassment By Marcaillou Who Counts on Lacroix and Guterres

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive CJR  PFT

UNITED NATIONS, February 1 – In today's UN system, decay and rot are rarely addressed and cleaned up. Rather, those who complain are retaliated against. And if the Press reports on it, it to faces retaliation - in Inner City Press' case, a ban from even entering the UN that now stands at 212 days with no end in sight.  In that context, the leaked just keep on coming. In December Inner City Press reported on complaint against the head of the UN Mine Action Service, Agnès Marcaillou of France, adding that UNSG Antonio Guterres' peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix was seen by UNMAS staff as covering up for Marcaillou.    Since then Inner City Press has learned of more complaints against Marcaillou and of her attempt, which many staff call desperate, to address or shut them up. For the February 1 noon briefing that Inner City Press was again banned from attending in person, it before the briefing in writing asked Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric (also French) questions including: "February 1-3: On UNMAS please immediately confirm or deny what whistleblowers tell Inner City Press, that there are over a dozen harassment, bullying and abuse of authorities cases filed at UN against head of UNMAS Agnès Marcaillou and  that the cases came to attention to head of DPO rule of law and security ASG Alexander Zuev and Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Francois Renaud Lacroix. Was she politely asked to resign but refused to do so? Confirm / explain her statements: " Today I want to appeal to those of you who have shared their discontent with colleagues, partners, inside and outside the UNMAS/UNOPS circles, to please not break UNMAS; what you have work so hard for; please do not split the strong and capable team that has made UNMAS the worldwide respected entity it is today; do not undermine what most colleagues have worked so hard for in the past 6 years that I have been here with you.   I feel that there is too much for UNMAS to lose!"     

Despite Dujarric's on camera promise to answer such questions, and the written promise of USG Alison Smale, there has been no answer. So here is more of Marcaillou's "address to staff," in advance of a meeting she and other USGs will be attending in Geneva on February 4 - how soon will she be fired? From her address to all staff: "today’s UNMAS team picture is not all pink and rosy.   All is not well in UNMAS when a few of you are unhappy. Unhappy to the extent that they have reached the highest echelons of the Organization, complained about their condition and about their Director on a number of mostly undisclosed grievances.   From what I gather, some of the grievances are related to the fact that my standards are too high; that I am overly demanding; that staff are being victimized and drawn to seek counseling and medical support. Some of you have also made disparaging/belittling statements about me, and also about UNMAS performance, to quite a large and diverse audience; a few of you have even stated, wide and large enough to reach me, that my leadership “was mean on purpose” and “my management ineffective: that they needed to clear their way, and, according to rumors, that because I had not been forced into retirement last Summer, “with some more push I would be ousted soon and even maybe before the end of the year”.   This means a lot to me...   I was obviously blinded by a rising UNMAS, by its accomplishments, good results and the enthusiasm shared by other colleagues; I thought I was coaching an “all- winning team" .. Today I want to appeal to those of you who have shared their discontent with colleagues, partners, inside and outside the UNMAS/UNOPS circles, to please not break UNMAS; what you have work[ed] so hard for; please do not split the strong and capable team that has made UNMAS the worldwide respected entity it is today; do not undermine what most colleagues have worked so hard for in the past 6 years that I have been here with you.   I feel that there is too much for UNMAS to lose! ... I am committed to presenting, at the earliest, in January 2019, to Under Secretary-General Lacroix a forward-looking plan; this requires your inputs. I will also seek his and other UN departments support to help us, his staff, all of us together, to rebuild a unified, strong and happy team. He has always been open to listening and meeting his staff and I do not expect him to react any differently to our demand for support and help... I thank you for your attention.   Agnès Marcaillou   Director UNMAS." So Marcaillou is counting on Lacroix. Inner City Press has tweeted the issue at @Lacroix_UN. Watch this site.

Tale of Two UNs, Peace Mural Versus Haiti Cholera, Rapes Covered Up, Mines

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 1 -- It was a tale of two UNs, with a peace mural and Peter Yarrow in the Conference Building hallway, amid talk against colonialism, compared to Herve Ladsous and self-serving talk of UN work in the Central African Republic and Haiti in the General Assembly lobby on April 1.

   In the GA Lobby, a "virtual mine field" was presented, first to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who was told he was the first SG to face this danger - on an iPad. 

  A French photogrraph spoke movingly about CAR, said what an honor it was to work for the UN. It was unclear if she's heard UN Peacekeeping brought cholera to Haiti, killed more than 8000 people then refused to accept any responsibility.

 But this is not to (entirely) be a nay-sayer. The ideals of the UN still draw people to it, like around the corner at the Peace Mural. Those attending that event could ignore today's UN, not speaking out against airstrikes on Yemen,helping cover up rapes in Darfur and the DR Congo.

 It was Ladsous who did those and refused to answer questions, video here, Vine here. Ironically it was Ladsous who, leaving the virtual reality of the GA Lobby, passed by the Peace Mural event barely looking at it. Colonialism indeed.

  Earlier on April 1 when the UN Mine Action Service held its annual press conference, Inner City Press wanted to ask UNMAS Director Agnes Marcaillou about landmines in South Sudan and UNMAS' promotion of multiply-accused deminer David Bax from Somalia to Gaza.

  But also at the press conference were Japan's Deputy Permanent Representative and the Dutch Permanent Representative Karel van Oosterom, who it was said had to leave early, to meet with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. 

  So Inner City Press first asked van Oosterom if Dutch Queen Maxine, in Myanmar, would be raising the landmine issues in that country.

   No,  van Oosterom said, the Queen is in Myanmar in her capacity as UN Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. But he (and UNMAS' Marcaillou) assured that she and other Dutch official raise the landmine issue wherever they go.

  Later, Inner City Press asked Marcaillou about the reported use of landmines in South Sudan and about the disposition of the investigation(s) into David Bax, who whistleblowers in Somalia alleged shared DNA information about Somalia bombers with US intelligence, as well as engaging in conflicts of interest. (Video and background here.)

   Marcaillou spoke passionately about South Sudan, where UNMAS found cluster bombs were used but could not find by whom. She said UNMAS coordinated a statement on the landline allegation, by IGAD with the UN Mission UNMISS. Later she said that UNMAS dogs were used to check if explosives were being brought into UNMISS protection of civilians site.

  On Bax, the answer was less convincing.  Marcaillou as she did last year pointed to an investigation by the UN Office of Project Services - but this time acknowledged that she had not seen the whole UNOPS report. 

This is the case even though Bax is a UNMAS employee - it's that UNMAS outsources its human resources activities to UNOPS. But shouldn't Marcaillou as UNMAS director have access to investigative reports about UNMAS staffers? We'll have more on this.

Footnote: After the briefing, Inner City Press mused whether the Netherlands, running for one of two Western European and Other Group seats on the UN Security Council against Italy and Sweden, would be upping its contributions to UNMAS.

    Karel van Oosterom replied that “currently, tender process under way for for years 2016-20. Share UNMAS will depend on quality its proposals.”

  This level of detail is appreciated. And wouldn't one think that assessment would include UNMAS' transparency, including whether it demands and gets access to investigative reports about UNMAS staff like Bax and the issues raised? We'll have more on this.

   

On Somalia, Ban Ki-moon's Office Doubles-Down on its Stonewalling on UNMAS and Bax Abuses, In Ladsousification of UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 9 -- The UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon under Herve Ladsous has reached this point: this Friday evening it claimed that its non-response to Inner City Press questions since June 24 about the UN in Somalia either were answered, or have not yet been partially answered in a statement by Ladsous' spokesperson Kieran Dwyer spoon-fed to another media. Both are false.

At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq:

Inner City Press: a question that I have asked all the way back to June about Mr. David Bax of UNMAS [United Nations Mine Action Service] in Somalia. One of the questions that was asked was, who were the private security personnel or armed guards with whom he went to the compound on the day of the attack; it seems like if they are UN contractors and they are getting paid by the UN, it shouldn’t be hard to answer it, but it is yet to be answered. I am wondering if you either have that answer or can provide it today?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: On the latter, as I believe Martin [Nesirky] had mentioned a few days ago, the United Nations Office for Project Services, which is the contracting group regarding Mr. Bax, is looking into this particular case, and we wouldn’t have any further comment while it looks into it.

Inner City Press: Are they looking into just the sexual harassment allegations or the private security?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: We have no comment while they look into the matter.

Inner City Press: I went back and looked, I think it was 5 July, in this room, when I asked about Mr. Bax. You made a big point of saying, “we always answer your questions, we always send answers,” and I am wondering, should I still be waiting, which I have yet to receive from your Office, so it’s an answer on the questions that I asked about Mr. Bax, or is this is indirectly answering the answer that’s gonna be given?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: No, while… as I just made clear, while they are looking into this, we wouldn’t have any further comment. At some point, if we have some answers…

Inner City Press: Well, why is Kieran Dwyer sending an answer to other… if the policy is that there will be no answer, so I am still wondering why…

Associate Spokesperson: Matthew, I don’t speak for Kieran. Whatever information we have, we’ve provided once we have it. As we did, by the way, with David Bax.

  Well, no. After Inner City Press on Friday afternoon published a piece with the video and Haq's previous July 5 statement, Ban's Spokesperson's Office sent this:

Subject: Your question at noon on Somalia
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 6:39 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

On 24 June, you asked whether the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) had a response to the email received from an anonymous source in relation to a contractor in Somalia.

Today and on earlier occasions, DPKO says it has relayed the position that the hiring agency of the UN Mine Action Service staff member in question, the UN Office for Project Services, is inquiring into the complaint and will not make further comment while its inquiries are ongoing. This was and continues to be the case.

DPKO's public affairs team did not share any other information with other correspondents on questions on this anonymous email. This is the United Nations' response to questions on the email, and DPKO has relayed that.

  The game here seems to be to pretend that Inner City Press only asked about the whistleblower's complaint. But as simply one example, Inner City Press at the June 26 noon briefing asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey

Inner City Press: What’s their response to a… to public allegations that the head of the Mine Action Service in Somalia… a David Bax, shares information with United States intelligence through Bancroft Global Services and also was seen and photographed entering the UN compound with armed private contractors?

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, we’ll have to check on that for you, Matthew. I don’t have an answer to that right now.

As Inner City Press reported on August 7, a canned response from UNMAS through Ladsous' spokesperson Kieran Dwyer was given to another media:

Agnes Marcaillou, the director of UN Mine Action Service in New York: Note to Kieran Dwyer [ ]

#1 The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) supports AMISOM and Somali Police Force explosive ordnance device teams collect evidence from the site of an IED incident or from recovered IEDs which have been rendered safe.

UNMAS is mandated to provide technical assistance, including training and mentoring, to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali Police Force (SPF) in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), first response and post-blast investigation (PBI) to improvised explosive devices (IED), including mentoring and training them in law enforcement investigative techniques. This assistance to Somalia contributes to building a capacity commensurate with that of most nations with a well functioning security sector.

UNMAS provides assistance to the Somali Police in the preservation of evidence from IED incidents, to enable them to later prosecute through proper judicial process. This is important because improper handling and/or disposal of explosive devices would destroy evidence and result in minimal opportunity for possible legal action.

UNMAS supports cooperation between law enforcement agencies in facilitating knowledge sharing between the Somali Police Force and law enforcement agencies, such as Interpol and the FBI.

#2 At UN[S]OM’s request, UNMAS provided emergency response to the 19 June attack to save lives

UN[S]OM (the new UN mission in Somalia) asked UNMAS to assist while the attack was actually underway. The Burundian convoy escort team provided by AMISOM to support UNMAS was deployed in Mine Protected Vehicles to assist in the evacuation of UN staff from the common compound. UNMAS technical staff also deployed in cooperation with Department of Safety and Security (DSS) focal points and the Somali Police.

As part of this deployment supporting DSS and the Somali police, UNMAS Programme manager David Bax and team helped secure the area from residual explosive threats. At the request of the Somali police, UNMAS provided assistance in the gathering of forensic evidence for possible use in a criminal investigation, following recognized law enforcement forensic guidelines. Bodies also had to be checked to make sure they were free from explosive hazards and not booby trapped. A number of unexploded devices were discovered. Several were armed and extremely dangerous, posing a direct threat to the UNMAS and AMISOM teams as well as to anybody planning to reoccupy the UN common compound.

The whole investigation team evacuated when their position was no longer tenable due to the deteriorating security situation.

Under the circumstances UNMAS was the only entity equipped to gather information for both the internal UN investigation, and to support the Somali police before evidence was destroyed or compromised in the event that the compound fell out of UN control, following established international guidelines for the recovery of forensic material.

In an extremely difficult and dangerous environment, the UNMAS team contributed to the success of the evacuation of more than 35 staff and allowed important evidence for later inquiry/investigation to be obtained without further casualties from unexploded ordnance.

#3 Bax oversight of allocation of rooms on UNMAS compound follows normal procedures

...As in the case of other UN facilities world-wide controlled by their respective Head of Agency, David Bax, as Head of UNMAS-Somalia, has oversight over UNMAS accommodation facilities. It is logical therefore that, for UNMAS facilities, Bax has final say over allocation given tight resources and high demand. At some point over the past three years, UNMAS has hosted staff from all UN agencies operational in Mogadishu, and has gladly been an enabler for the UN family to gain access to Somalia.

  So what does Ban's Spokesperson's Office mean, "DPKO's public affairs team did not share any other information with other correspondents"? This is the Ladsousification of the UN. We'll have more on this Watch this site.

   

In UN's Somalia Scam, Weeks After ICP Asked, Ladsous Admits UNMAS David Bax' DNA Sharing with US -- to Friendly Scribe

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 7 -- On June 22, Inner City Press published an exclusive story about UN Mine Action chief in Mogadishu David Bax sharing information with US intelligence, here.

On June 24, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson for an answer from UN Peacekeeeping chief Herve Ladsous, Dmitry Titov and the head of UNMAS about

"a detailed complaint from an UNMAS whistleblower in Somalia that the head of UNMAS in Somalia provided genetic information from bombings to [United States] intelligence agencies and also moves around Mogadishu with armed guards from that group, Denel, that we were talking about.I also e-mailed several of them and asked for a comment; I haven’t received anything."
Answer: Well, we’ll have to check on that for you, Matthew, we’ll check with DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations].

In the weeks that followed, Inner City Press put the question to UN envoy to Somalia Nicholas Kay -- who referred the question back "to New York" and to Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky. 

  Inner City Press got more information and published it. But no response from Ladsous or his lead spokesperson Kieran Dwyer, nor from Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky.

  After the Free UN Coalition for Access raised the question, the UN on June 26 told Inner City Press:

Subject: Your questions on Somalia.From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.orgDate: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 9:43 AMTo: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations does not discuss internal communications or emails received with media correspondents.

  Now Dwyer has provided an answer -- to Colum Lynch of "Turtle Bay," Foreign Policy and the for-now Jeff Bezos / Amazon owned Washington Post. (Is he not a "media correspondent?) This without any notice to Inner City Press, either by DPKO or Ban's Spokesperson's office.

  Dwyer claimed, on camera, that he and his office do answer Inner City Press questions. Video here. Dwyer acknowledged that Ladsous refuses to answer Inner City Press questions (apparently in response to Inner City Press asking him about his public and leaked statements as France's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide, arguing for the escape of genocidaires into Eastern Congo, or Inner City Press' coverage of Ladsous' drones).

  But this is false. Inner City Press asked this question on June 24, in public, transcript here. And Ban's Spokesperson's office said they would ask DPKO. Then, weeks later, DPKO gave a canned answer to Colum Lynch. 

 This has happened before. As simply one example, Inner City Press pursued the murder of a UN Security officer in Afghanistan, Louis Maxwell, in a series of either stories, quoting his relatives that the UN was engaged in a cover up

 Then the UN decided to respond to the scandal, not by answering Inner City Press' question, but by calling up their go-to Turtle. 

 Later, Lynch commiserated with Louis Charbonneau of Reuters, how unfair Inner City Press was. Charbonneau would go on, at least three times now, to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN -- including by leaking internal anti-Press UNCA document to the UN's top accreditation official three minutes after promising not to do so. Story here, audio here,document here.

 Inner City Press exposed this, with documents obtained under FOIA fromVoice of America. It was covered by, among others, the Guardian UK -- but not by Lynch. He explains:

"Why haven’t I written about your disputes with UNCA and the UN administration, of which there have been many. I have thought about weighing in on it. But given the complexities of your relationship with UNCA and the administration I’ve resisted the temptation of writing a hasty story. I simply have not been able to justify the commitment in labor – which in my view would require a major investment of reporting time, including reviews of thousands of your blog posts—to writing a lengthier piece. There are a lot of more impactful stories I don’t write because I can’t devote the time to it."

   So Lynch never reported for example that the head of UN Peacekeeping openly refuses to answer Inner City Press questions. He benefits from this.

  We have more to say about all this -- including a rebuttal of the attempt to rehabilitate Bax. For example:

  It's reported that "Bax established a relationship with the FBI to provide the Somalis with expertise on maintaining the integrity of the chain of evidence when handling bomb material" and then that "a senior official at U.N. headquarters insisted that the United Nations does not directly share evidence with the United States or other governments." This must be explained - in public.

The rehabilitation of Bax's corrupt running of the camp is laughable. Source: "he put everyone lives at direct risk for that."

On all levels, this is unacceptable. Watch this site - and this video

   

UN Doesn't Deny Bax in Somalia Gives Info to US, Says He Isn't Armed, But Denel? Third Follow Up on Exclusive

By Matthew Russell Lee, 3d Follow Up on Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- In Somalia, UN Mine Action Service chief David Bax passes information to US intelligence: a whistleblower in Mogadishu has alleged this and Inner City Press exclusively reported it on June 22, four days ago.

But despite multiple requests to different parts of the UN for a confirmation or denial, the UN has remained silent. Until now.

  On June 26, after the Free UN Coalition for Access re-directed the question from UNMAS about its chief Agnes Marcaillou to the Somalia Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN envoy Nicholas Kay did not answer Inner City Press on this), the following arrived:

Subject: Your questions on Somalia.
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 9:43 AM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations does not discuss internal communications or emails received with media correspondents. UNMAS personnel are not authorised to carry guns and do not do so.

  This is an evasive answer. The request was and is not only to confirm receipt by DPKO chief Herve Ladsous of the whistleblower's complaint but for a substantive confirmation or denial of whether UNMAS' David Bax provides evidence, including genetic information and parts of bombs, to US intelligence, including through the intermediary Bancroft Global Development. 

  But the UN will not answer -- yet. Instead, they have opened a witch hunt to try to find the whistleblower(s).

On the second part of the response, Inner City Press had asked about the UN's South African state owned military contractor Denel, paid by the UN in Somalia. (Inner City Press first wrote about this on June 19, here.)

   Beyond other photographs reviewed by Inner City Press, several are in the public domain, listing “unidentified foreigners” as part of the group going into the bombed compound. See here, here and here. The UN must explain this.

There are also complaints from a wider range of UN staff in Mogadishu, not only of favoritism by Bax but quid pro quo in hiring and accommodation, even... attempts at hypnotism. We'll have more on this -- because the UN must answer these questions. Watch this site.

  

As UN Stonewalls Inner City Press On Somalia Mining Action Giving DNA to US Story, Threatens Its Accreditation

By Matthew Russell Lee, 2d Follow Up on Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- A whistleblower's complaint that the head of the UN Mine Action Service in Somalia, David Bax, has been giving genetic information from Somalia bombings to US intelligence was filed on Friday, June 21 with three UN officials.

There were the head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, his Rule of Law chief and the director of UNMAS, Agnes Marcaillou. Inner City Press before publishing a June 22 story about this whistleblower complaint sought comment from two of three above, as well as from Bax. (Also, even a Twitter question was sent to UNMAS; this is a type of non-response issue worked on by the Free UN Coalition for Access,@FUNCA_info. 

Amid reports of a witch hunt in Mogadishu to find the whistleblower, Inner City Press put the question at Monday's noon briefing to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey, video here: 

From UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: whether Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous, Mr. [Dmitry] Titov and the head of UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) have received a detailed complaint from an UNMAS whistleblower in Somalia that the head of UNMAS in Somalia provided genetic information from bombings to United States intelligence agencies and also moves around Mogadishu with armed guards from that group, Denel, that we were talking about. It’s a pretty troubling thing, I’ve seen a copy of it, and it seems to have been directed to and received by those three individuals, so I would like to get a statement from you that they have received it and what their response to it is. I also e-mailed several of them and asked for a comment; I haven’t received anything.

Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: Well, we’ll have to check on that for you, Matthew, we’ll check with DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations].

Inner City Press: is it your understanding that UNMAS individuals and their contractors can walk around with arms, weapons?

Deputy Spokesperson: Matthew, you’d have to ask DPKO that, I don’t have the information.

Inner City Press: It’s UNMAS… I mean it’s…

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t have the exact nature of what they are allowed to do and not allowed to do. Speak with DPKO over that.

Inner City Press: You always say that and then I don’t have any answer from them. I’ve e-mailed the head of UNMAS about a complaint that her agency provides genetic and other information to US intelligence and she wouldn’t deny it, so I am asking you.

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, you know we… there are all kinds of complaints, they have to be…

Inner City Press: By a UN individual?

Deputy Spokesperson: …they have to be proven.

Inner City Press: And the individual says that there is already now a witch hunt to find out who the complainant is, so I am asking to get a response, that’s all.

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, I wouldn’t say there is a witch hunt, but when people are being accused of something, we obviously have to go to the bottom of it and find out what is happening. So, as I said, we will check with DPKO and then get back to you.

Inner City Press: But, when a UN person comes forward… will this person be protected by whistleblower protections?

Deputy Spokesperson: We will have to get back to you on that, Matthew. We don’t discuss hypothetical situations. Right now, we… right now, I certainly don’t know anything about a whistleblower. Pam?

  But seven hours after this exchange, the UN system had still not gotten it together to respond to these serious allegations. They were engaged in a witch hunt in Mogadishu; in UN Headquarters in New York, Inner City Press on Monday afternoon, four hours after these questions, was threatened with suspension or withdrawal of accreditation. Watch this site.

In Somalia, UN Witch Hunt on Mine Action's Bax Giving Info to US Intelligence, Stonewalling the Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on 1st Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 24 – What happens when a detailed complaint that a UN official is improperly supplying information to US intelligence agencies is received and asked about in UN Headquarters?

  Stonewalling of the Press' request for confirmation or denial, and a witch hunt to find the source.

  Two days ago Inner City Press asked the director of the UN Mine Action Service Agnes Marcaillou about a complaint from a whistleblower in UNMAS in Somalia. First exclusive here. 

  The allegation is that country director David Bax has been passing along genetic information from bombings to US intelligence agencies, in a move the UNMAS whistleblower says has endangered the lives of UN personnel.

  But instead of responding, a dragnet along the wider world of UN personnel working in and on Somalia began. 

   Who was it that “outed” Bax, not only for inappropriate service of the US (for which he has been thrown out of a country before) but also for “ruling over” the UN compound, abusing his power to decide who gets which accommodation and job, and even controlling and profiting from the sale of liquor in the UN compound's bar.

  Rather than answering, the UN questioning began: who would know about this? The better question is, why has been been allowed to go on so long? And what's going to be done about it now?

  At the UN's June 24 noon briefing, Inner City Press began by asking Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey to simply confirm receipt of the UNMAS whistleblower's complaint, and whether UNMAS's Somalia chief David Bax and his Denel contractors are expected to run around Mogadishu armed.Video here from Minute 6:28.

  Del Buey told Inner City Press to “ask DPKO,” the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. But DPKO's chief Herve Ladsous has repeatedly refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, video here. And another at DPKO, and the head of UNMAS, have not responded to Press inquiries about the complaint. But as noted, the witch hunt has begun.

“I wouldn't call it a witch hunt,” Del Buey insisted. But when people are accused, we have to look into it and get to the bottom of it.”

  Inner City Press asked if the complainant would be subject to the UN's stated whistleblower protections. And that too is a question to be answered. Watch this site.