It is 10 years ago that the UN introduced #cholera into #Haiti. Doctors and the health ministry reported the source the day it was discovered. But this became the biggest story of UN hypocrisy and moral failure. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/a-decade-after-deadly-cholera-epidemic-haiti-awaits-help_205954 via @JamaicaObserver

I remember sitting in my office. The media had reported sick people turning up at the hospital in St Marc. It was cholera, which had not occurred in Haiti since the 19th century. Doctors were dispatched and investigated the source. Some of those reports were being analyzed.

Then at the 5 pm news, there was a young-sounding MINUSTAH spokesperson, stating that they weren’t the source. I remember thinking: « She shouldn’t say that! She should say, we have received reports of cholera, we are investigating the situation and will provide a statement soon.

The next day I was stunned that the message of denial was maintained at the news. The position, obviously faulty to the Haitians, was becoming entrenched. #Haiti #cholera

And the denial became entrenched. UN spokespersons, and also people like Bill Clinton, became masters in explaining why it didn’t matter where the disease came from. What mattered what we would do about it. However the #UN and the international community failed there as well.

For me, who was for 8 years a staff member, it remains unreal why the #UN was unable to deal with the truth. The Haitians would have understood mistakes/accidents. Why maintaining an obvious lie? Why continue to destroy the credibility of such an important organization ?

So many good people have dedicated their work, their lives to the #UN. That this organization could go so wrong, for what?, it remains an open question for me. /END OF THREAD.