nouvelles de notre association - aafi-afics - UNOG

watch over the car at night, and all this with a
more than comfortable salary. New York finally
advised me of a financial improvement that just
covered my rent. It still wasn't the $14 originally
promised but I decided not to resign.
The work was very varied. However, the end-ofmonth
accounts were a nightmare. These had to
be presented to New York in both dollars and
local currency. The Bank of Guinea was not used
to giving monthly statements and I had to spend
hours in their offices and then return to point out
their mistakes. As an example, for a
"replenishment" of, let us say, around $14,500,
they had debited our account by $1,450 (a simple
mistake of a comma). Another problem was the
coded cables. Here again I spent hours at the
post office searching for the originals in the paper
bin. Everything had to be started again from zero
and during Ramadan the employees were
unresponsive because they were tired. Even the
driver sleeping in the car had to be woken up.
Forty days of fasting is a long time.
Under another heading there were the experts.
There were about a dozen working in different
parts of the country. One, an American, bilingual
and very pleasant, who had come with his wife
and son, was expelled by the Government who
said he had been involved in politics, which was
completely untrue. We were very sad to say
goodbye to them. Another expert, a Swede, who
had not, I think, mentioned that he was diabetic,
was frequently sick because he drank too much
whisky. The doctor ordered his repatriation but
this had to be approved by New York. As this
didn't arrive, I took the responsibility of repatriating
him to Sweden urgently. We received the
approval from New York the day after, when the
expert was already in hospital in Stockholm where
he stayed for six months, but he was saved. Mr
Courtois having returned to Geneva for health
reasons, I was a little anxious. Next, two WHO
experts, staying in a hotel, caught amoeba and
had to return to Geneva as quickly as possible.
After all this, I hoped to have a more peaceful life.
I repainted my flat during the weekends, put up
curtains sewn locally on the market. It wasn't at all
easy to put the curtains up with lengths of string
but I found the flat pleasant with a view of the sea
and from my balcony I could watch all the local
festivities, marriages, deaths, all to the sound of
the tam-tam.
My tranquillity was short-lived. Mr Rosenborg who
was nearing the age of retirement, received a
cable from New York inviting him to vacate his
post as quickly as possible (which personally I
found very frustrating for a man of his age). He
therefore left, and left me, of course, with the task
of despatching all his personal belongings. I had
finally found a local secretary (a beginner, the
daughter of a UNICEF expert) who helped me a
little. Together we packed Mr Rosenborg's effects
and laughed over the photo album, with photos of
his marriage, his children, and finding things that
were rather personal. It was strange to enter in
this way into someone's private life. With the
departure of Mr Rosenborg, the arrival was
announced of an interim replacement, Mr Sameh,
Resident Representative of Togo. He wished to
stay at a hotel as he would not be there for long.
We warned him of the danger of regularly eating
his meals at the hotel. His stay was to be shortlived.
One day we heard on the radio a voice
booming that the United Nations was expelled. It
was claimed that they were responsible for the
death of the communist leader, Lumumba. It was
too much. The first to leave was Mr Sameh who
ordered that I should stay to close the office. What
a panic! As our offices were on loan from the
Government, I was afraid I would not even be able
to get in. From one minute to the next, no
telephone, no driver. A friend with a car helped
me, as I did not know how to drive. I rushed to the
office to pick up first the cash box, the passports
of all the experts in different parts of the country,
and my own passport, quickly took down the UN
flag hanging limply from the balcony without a
mast. I moved everything as best I could into my
bedroom, which had air-conditioning and had to
climb over it all to get into bed.
I had to go to the post office on foot or by taxi to
warn all the experts and to advise the WHO,
UNICEF, ICAO etc. not to send any experts. I
hastened to wire to them "We are expelled. I
repeat, expelled". Luckily the only person whom I
could rely on was the Swiss Chargé d'affaires,
who was astonished to see me having to deal
alone with such a responsibility. I was afraid of
being arrested, since our driver who came to taunt
me said I was doing resistance work. I asked the
catholic mission to make crates to send off all the
office supplies, and learned how to nail down the
covers, often hitting my fingers. I also had to pack
and send the personal belongings of the experts
who had already left for their respective countries.
I think I have never been so tired in my life, and I
was sleeping badly because of the insecurity. I
had been careful to hide in my flat the confidential
reports of the experts and the accounts, which I
hoped to send to New York via Geneva, because
of course there was no longer a diplomatic pouch.
With the help of an embassy, only the coding
machine had found it's way to Lomé.
Unfortunately, there was one expert, working for
the mines, who was extremely difficult to reach.
Mr Agassiz, his wife and two sons were still in
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