UN Tsunami Relief - an update
Wretchard at
The Belmont Club with some links that point out the United Nations fondness for VIP Suites and Limos and avoidance of
actually doing anything...
These two links stand out:
From the
Financial Times:
bq. The UN is being criticised for its failure to organise dozens of aid groups in and around Banda Aceh more than a week and a half after the tsunami hit the region, forcing some of them to bypass the international body and take action into their own hands to ensure aid reaches areas with the most urgent needs. "If we wait for the UN to tell us what to do, we wouldn't do anything," said Abdul Hadi bin e Rashid, first admiral of the Malaysian navy at the country's operations tent at Banda Aceh airport. "There are people who are hungry and angry. Why wait? So we just do it."
From
The Daily Telegraph:
bq. At the same time, US officials were briefing journalists about the lack of a UN presence at the airport in Banda Aceh, the capital of the province. "Look around and see who's present, and you will also see who's missing," said one. "I think you can read between the lines. "They [the UN] have their compound in town, their cars, but are they getting food out? Are they setting up clinics?"
bq. The UN has been desperate to put experts on the ground all week, fearing that thousands of people have yet to receive food or medical treatment. Michael Elmquist, the UN co-ordinator, said he had approached the Americans for help. "The answer was, I should go through the Indonesians," he said. The Indonesian military agreed to lend three helicopters for the UN to use yesterday. But the mission to assess needs was cancelled due to a lack of paperwork. When UN officials arrived at the airport they were told they had failed to hand in flight permission forms by 8pm the previous night. "They were at the airport and I was expecting them to go out," said Mr Elmquist. "We were not informed in advance that it was necessary to fill in these forms."
Time for them to just go away. The United Nations original charter was noble but they have devolved into a bureaucracy for maintaining tinpot despots and give them the moist sheen of legitimacy...
Posted by DaveH at January 10, 2005 6:18 PM