Rene Civil RELEASED from jail | Fleecing Haiti, masturbating on Black pain- U.N. finds “peacekeepers” fraud and mismanagement of monies in Haiti andDRCongo while black people die of hunger and containment in poverty |Wyclefand Akon put spotlight on Haiti, raise monies to help small children inprison for being poor and black and Haitian in occupied Haiti
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South Africa’s Zuma wins ANC leadership race, defeating President Thabo Mbeki www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL1847218920071218
* See:Ezili Dantò’s note: It’s Neither Hope Nor Progress When The International Community is Running Haiti: “…Today, criminals who plunder and enslave, then tag that behavior as “civilized” and themselves as white knights in shinning armor still have authority. But that authority is not truth, not decent, not just, nor helpful in establishing progress or hope for a Black independent nation or peoples…”
www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/sitesoley.html#hubris
U.N. Finds Fraud, Mismanagement in Peacekeeping Task Force Says ‘Multiple Instances’ of Corruption Have a Cost of $610 Million | Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/
12/17/AR2007121701914.html?nav=rss_world
“….In Haiti, the United Nations charged five employees with misconduct after the task force established that they had steered a $10 million-a-year fuel contract to a Haitian company, Distributeurs Nationaux S.A., according to U.N. officials and confidential documents. The task force has been unable to prove that the five profited from the scheme, citing its lack of authority to subpoena bank records, but it recommended that the case be referred for criminal prosecution by authorities in Haiti or the United States….”
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/
12/17/AR2007121701914.html?nav=rss_world
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Breaking News: Haitian political prisoner, Rene Civil, finally released after almost 2 years in jail this afternoon, Dec. 18, 2007
– Alleged fraud involving UN troops in DRCongo, Haiti probed, AFP, Dec. 18, 2007 | afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2e-4HtCg-A_XSIYBX6ZUY4A9c4Q
– Wyclef, Akon Put A Spotlight On Haiti’s Suffering And Beauty At Yele Festival, Dec. 17, 2007 | www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576585/20071217/jean_wyclef.jhtml
Alleged fraud involving UN troops in DRCongo, Haiti probed, Dec. 18, 2007
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2e-4HtCg-A_XSIYBX6ZUY4A9c4Q
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The United Nations said Tuesday it was probing allegations of fraud and mismanagement in procurement affecting its peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti.
UN spokeswoman Michele Montas was commenting on a report in The Washington Post alleging that a UN task force had uncovered case of “fraud, corruption, waste and mismanagement both at UN headquarters and peacekeeping missions “with aggregate value in excess of 610 million dollars.”
She noted that the investigation by the task force “was initiated on the UN side.”
“We’re concerned about the allegations in the (Washington Post) article, we want these allegations to be fully investigated and where appropriate to have criminal references made,” US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.
“We are very much committed to a procurement process that is open and transparent and efficient,” he added. “And we support very much the continued work of the task force that has uncovered some of the irregularities, improprieties in the article.”
“The case of staff members accused of wrongdoing in connection with procurement exercises in MINUSTAH (the 9,200-strong UN mission in Haiti) and MONUC (the 18,630-strong UN mission in DRC) are under consideration in the internal justice system in accordance with established procedures,” Montas said.
She added that the cases “are being accorded the highest priority” but that the world body was not in a position to comment any further at this stage.
“We are well aware that there have been problems in procurement,” Montas said. “This is why we are moving full steam ahead with procurement reform in order to have a system that is much tighter and transparent, leaving less room for abuse.”
The latest allegations, which followed previous UN procurement corruption scandals including one linked to the oil-for-food program for Iraq, surfaced just as the world body is trying to agree its two-year budget which the United States views as too high.
The UN General Assembly’s budgetary panel set a Wednesday deadline to approve a request by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a two-year budget of 4.2 billion dollars (2.95 billion euros).
“Certainly the budget as proposed is too high,” Khalilzad said last week. “We would like to see where savings can be made. We are discussing with other major donors and others with influence over the membership of the United Nations.”
Last August, five MONUC employees were suspended following irregularities in procurement practices uncovered by the Office of Internal Oversight Services Internal, the UN’s investigative arm, the UN mission said Kinshasa.
Since 2004, MONUC has brought to light more than 140 cases of sexual abuse by MONUC peacekeepers, dozens of whom have been repatriated to their respective countries.
See:Ezili Dantò’s note: It’s Neither Hope Nor Progress When The International Community is Running Haiti: “…Today, criminals who plunder and enslave, then tag that behavior as “civilized” and themselves as white knights in shinning armor still have authority. But that authority is not truth, not decent, not just, nor helpful in establishing progress or hope for a Black independent nation or peoples…”
www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/sitesoley.html#hubris
Wyclef, Akon Put A Spotlight On Haiti’s Suffering And Beauty At Yele Festival By Shaheem Reid, with reporting by Rahman Dukes
www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576585/20071217/jean_wyclef.jhtml
* “… donations, which will go toward retaining counsel for inmates at Haiti’s children’s prisons and helping rebuild and provide supplies to schools damaged during the hurricane season…” (Wyclef, Akon Put A Spotlight On Haiti’s Suffering And Beauty At Yele Festival, Dec. 17, 2007
www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576585/20071217/jean_wyclef.jhtml )
For Video, go to: (Check out sizzlin’ photos from the fest right here.) www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1576586
Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network