I have been particularly hard on the UN in this space but just when you think it cannot get any worse, it does.
Yesterday, on our way back from Koidu, the diamondiferous epicenter of Kono District in Sierra Leone, our vehicle broke down. It was a potentially nightmarish scenario: we were in the middle of nowhere – literally – and most significantly, our jack was short of hydraulic fluid and therefore did not work. The only solution was to flag down a passing car and ask them for help.
The first vehicle to pass us was a UN land cruiser, speeding in the opposite direction, going towards Koidu. I did my best to stop the car to ask for help – after all, we were in the middle of nowhere – but it simply accelerated. It sped right by us, its passengers simply staring.
In the end, we managed to stop a TOTAL truck, stumbling along the road at about 30 miles an hour towards Freetown. The truck stopped, and the driver jumped out. He quickly diagnosed the situation and listened to our story, and within five minutes, he produced a jack, had our vehicle hoisted up, and had changed our tire.
But the UN vehicle, only five minutes earlier, had sped right past, its passengers staring. It was travelling at a ridiculous speed towards Koidu, and simply accelerated when its driver saw us trying to flag it down.
Because it was on an important mission, and could not stop.
Because the organization plays a vital role in this country.
Because there is civil violence all over the country, and it is needed here to preserve peace, which is why the vehicle could not stop.
Come to think of it, had the vehicle stopped, its passengers would have had to help us, uh, fix something. That is a result that the organization is not accustomed to achieving in this country, so why break a trend?
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