In Somalia, UN Mine Action’s Bax Gives Info to US, Travels Armed with Denel, Whistleblowers Tell ICP

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 22 – In Somalia the UN Mine Action Service is passing along genetic information from bombings to US intelligence agencies, in a move some say has endangered the lives of UN personnel.

In the wake of the deadly attack on the UN compound in Mogadishu, among the victims were three employees of South African state owned arms manufacturer Denel.

At the UN in New York, Inner City Press asked UN Security Council president Mark Lyall Grant (video here from Minute 4:30) then UN spokesman Eduardo Del Buey about Denel.

The UN replied to Inner City Press, “Regarding your question at noon about the contractors killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday, we can confirm that the three contractors were employed by MECHEM, a demining company based in South Africa.”

Now Inner City Press has exclusively been provided by whistleblowers with detailed complaints about the UN Mine Action Service’s David Bax, including that he shares both genetic information and physical evidence from bombings with American intelligence services, including through shadow private military contractor Bancroft Global Development.

According to the whistleblowers, this combined with Bax and “his” Denel contractors traveling armed around Mogadishu leads to a perception that they and the UN have taken sides, and helps to make them a target.

Earlier this month Inner City Press reported that the UN Development Program, involved with UNMAS and Bax, was soliciting private security services for the UN Common Compounds in Somaliland. While the Request for Proposal said these services would be unarmed, Inner City Press put questions to the UN that have yet to be answered.

The UN has told Inner City Press that while it does employee private military contractors, for example in Iraq, it is in an unarmed capacity. So why would Bax and the Denel / Mechem contractors be going around Mogadishu armed?

There are other complaints and questions about Bax and UNMAS in Mogadishu which Inner City Press has put to the Director of UNMAS Agnes Marcaillou and to Dmitri Titov of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  DPKO’s chief Herve Ladsous has said he will not answer Inner City Press’ questions. These three are aware of the complaints.

Other questions to UN envoy to Mogadishu Nicholas Kay have gone unanswered. So too has a request for confirmation or denial sent to the e-mail address Bax listed for an April 2013 UN Mine Action conference.

But the UN should answer about allegedly providing information to US intelligence services, about how South African Bax, pictured here with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, hired the South African state firm Denel, and why they go around armed.

Here (above) is Bax at right with Ban as well as Qatar’s Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and his then chief of staff Mutlaq M. Al-Qahtani. by UN Photo, Mark Garten; genetic evidence and Bancroft not shown

The whistleblowers describe Bax as “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.

They describe a grisly video of this weeks bomb attack and its victims that Bax made and screened in this UN bar. They conclude, “he’s going to get us all killed.” What will the UN’s Herve Ladsous, the head of the Mine Action Service and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon do?

Source: Inner city press