Stewart Stogel
Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2004

In the inquiry, NewsMax claimed that Annan's insistence he knew nothing about a missing flight data recorder from a 1994 U.N. plane crash "strained believability." The crash occurred over west Africa in a U.N. jet carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.

Shortly after the accident, came the massive genocides which the U.N. estimated killed more than 600,000 people. War crimes tribunals overseen by the United Nations are currently underway.

It was suspected, but never proven, that Rwanda's current president, Paul Kagame, who led a rebel insurgency, ordered the plane shot down.

The investigation remained dormant for almost ten years, until the French newspaper Le Monde raised the issue last week.

The newspaper reported the French attorney-general reopened an inquiry into the crash and claimed that U.N. officials in New York City never sent the recovered flight recorder for analysis.

At first, the U.N. denied it had the recorder in question. By midweek, the suspect black box was found in a locked file cabinet in "pristine" condition.

Conflicting explanations were offered by the U.N. Annan, who as undersecretary-general for peacekeeping affairs had responsibility for the crash investigation, called the incident "a first class foul up."

Rwanda’s U.N. ambassador told CNN “something smells fishy.”

How such a central piece of evidence could be shelved for a decade is now the subject of an internal U.N. investigation.

Annan’s proclamations of innocence are now being second guessed by senior staffers.

If that was not enough, the U.N. now admits that it has decided "to re-audit" the recently ended U.N.-Iraq Oil-for-Food program.

The program, created by the Security Council in 1996, was designed to allow the Iraqi government to sell oil to pay for humanitarian goods and medical supplies.

Charges of skimming revenues and unauthorized pumping of oil are now the subject of several investigations.

it is alleged that Benon Sevan, the former head of the program, turned a "blind eye" as all the "irregularities" were taking place.

In an interview with NBC News, Sevan did not deny that some people may have stolen some of his program's revenues.....he added that "even if 10% was stolen, 90% got to the people it was supposed to go to."

NBC estimated the missing 10% came to more than $6 billion.

Adnan Pachachi, a member of Iraq's governing council told NewsMax, “If this is true, we will ask Kofi Annan to help us recover the money.”

Under pressure from various circles, Annan has now asked for a “new audit” of the Oil for Food program’s expenses.

The U.N. chief has mandated the investigation to the office of internal oversight services (OIOS).

Some U.N. insiders called the Annan action “incredible.”

OIOS it was explained, is the U.N. department which originally conducted audits of the Iraqi oil program.

It reported no serious irregularities.

“Now it is being asked to investigate itself. You figure it out,” complained a U.N. staffer.

Another staffer insisted: “They are all covering for one another, it is so obvious.”

Editor's note: