Several internal audits by one of its own agencies reveal that the
UN has wasted tens of millions of dollars in its "peacekeeping
operations" in Sudan over the past three years.
Follow this link to the original source: "Audit
of U.N.’s Sudan Mission Finds Tens of Millions in Waste"
The UN Security Council established its mission in Sudan in March 2005,
under the guise of helping to settle a 22-year-old civil war that has
left 2 million dead, leaving tens of thousands, if not millions, homeless
and hungry.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post obtained a copy of a confidential
audit from October 2006 where "a number of potential fraud indicators
and cases of mismanagement and waste," were noted by the UN Office
for International Oversight Services, the UN agency conducting the audits.
(Article continues below)
Irregularities that have been identified so far include:
• Thousands of food rations
being lost to theft and spoilage.
• Millions of dollars being wasted by renting warehouses that
were never used.
• The unnecessary expenditure of $1.2 million used for booking
blocks of luxurious hotel rooms for UN staffers that were never used.
• A UN agent is accused of steering a $589,000 contract to Radiola
Aerospace for solar airport runway lights when the company helped his
wife obtain a student visa.
• Two senior procurement officials, one U.S. citizen and one from
New Zealand, are charged with misconduct for not complying with rules
designed to prevent corruption.
• A $200 million contract with Eurest Support Services, a British
catering company, is being examined, as the company has already been
charged with rigging bids in three different African countries.
• One contract to supply gravel for peacekeeping barracks was
described in the audit as "exorbitant."
• Over $9 million in unnecessary fees went to a Canadian company,
Skylink Aviation, by releasing it from its obligation to fulfill a contract.
• Another $9 million was wasted by hiring a company to clear UN
goods through customs instead of UN staffers doing the job.
Keep in mind these are the admitted
activities of just one UN mission — the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Faith McDonnell is director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s
Church Alliance for a New Sudan. She added these comments:
The greatest tragedy here is that a little money can go a long way
in helping those Sudanese who are in need. While nonprofit aid organizations
and churches can do wonders with just a few hundred or thousand dollars,
the UN wastes millions. The lost opportunities are staggering.
There are reports in Juba of UN workers served luxurious brunches
by five-star chefs while southern Sudanese outside scramble to piece
together paltry school tuition fees. It is nothing short of a travesty.
Southern Sudan is really the best
hope for peace in the entire country. Marginalized people/groups are
coming together with Southern Sudanese as never before. All Sudanese
who want just peace, secular democracy, and religious freedom are counting
on the UN and African Union forces to assist them in stabilizing and
developing their country, not taking control from indigenous leaders
and replaying the same corruption we’ve seen in many other countries.
How corrupt does an organization have to be, with examples abounding
of every kind of immorality, criminal behavior, abuse and corruption
committed by UN individuals and agencies as a whole, before people wake
up to the reality of its workings and agenda?
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