In a statement Alenius replied “It’s my document, for my perusal,”.

The UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions noted that “the Committee did not have the benefit of access to the review itself, as OIOS declined to provide it.”

These reports were at the center of a BBC report which claimed that the UN covered up that its troops in DR of Congo gave arms to militias and smuggled gold and ivory. The allegations were based on confidential UN sources, involve Pakistani and Indian troops working as peace keepers. It further stated that the UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing, but UN insiders told the BBC, they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons. Story reported here

Earlier this week, in a press briefing, the question was asked,”who had paid for the report.”
“The UN budget,” the senior UN official replied. So how is it Ms. Ahlenius’ report?

The reports are damning. The first, by Erling Grimstad, states among other thing that

“OIOS suffers from an ineffective and unclear structure, lack of independent budget and limited to no administrative support (check in and separating procedures, travel arrangements, etc.), poor management, conflicts at the senior management level, lack of communication inside ID/OIOS as well as with stakeholders and clients of ID/OIOS, lack of standard operating procedures and constant disagreements with regard to the scope of some of the investigative procedures of the division. This has obviously resulted in instability, high turnover rates and non-optimal working conditions for investigators.”

Well the report “owned” by Ms Inga-Britt Alenius, paid for from the UN’s donor countries, withheld from UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and leaked to the BBC, is now available for the world to see in PDF :

Review of the OIOS Investigations Division, United Nations
Submitted to the Under-Secretary-General of Office of Internal Oversight Services
June 26, 2007 Erling Grimstad

Also See:

A Culture Review of the Investigations Division of OIOS
Consultant’s Report Submitted to: Inga-Britt Ahlenius
Under-Secretary General Office of Internal Oversight Services
by Michel Girodo, Ph.D July 13th, 2007

The UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing, but UN insiders told the BBC’s Panorama they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons.

An 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:

- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia, providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.

- Indian peacekeepers operating around the town of Goma had direct dealings with the militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide, now living in eastern DR Congo.

- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory.

The UN looked into the allegations concerning the Pakistani troops in 2007.

It concluded that one officer had been responsible for dealing in gold – allowing traders to use UN aircraft to fly into the town, putting them up at the UN base and taking them around the town.

The head of the UN peacekeeping operation in New York Jean-Marie Guehenno declared, “The investigation has found no evidence of gun smuggling. the UN decided that “in the absence of corroborative evidence” its investigators “could not substantiate the allegation” that Pakistani peacekeepers supplied weapons or ammunition to the militia.

UN insiders - close to the investigation – told the BBC they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons. The BBC’s Martin Plaut says that in short, the Pakistanis, who are the largest troop contributors to the UN in the world, were too valuable to alienate.

These are not the only allegations to have been brought against peacekeepers in DR Congo.
In December 2006, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Moroccan troops had been involved in widespread sexual abuse. “There have been crimes such as rape, pedophilia and human trafficking,” he said, shortly before leaving office.

Didier Bourguet, the U.N. senior official who was charged with running an Internet pedophile ring in the Congo, continues to escape imprisonment by hiding behind the French “justice” system

Several witnesses including two jailed FNI leaders known as “Kung-fu” and “Dragon”, have stated publicly that they received help from the UN. The FNI has been described by Human Rights Watch as “some of the most murderous individuals that operate in eastern Congo”.

The UN peacekeeping operation in DR Congo is the largest in the world, with 17,000 troops, spread across the country.

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7365283.stm