March 1, 2013 11:50AM 

# UN Forced to Acknowledge Help to Mugabe 

By [Marian L. Tupy](https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy) 

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Four years ago, I [wrote](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575080962588492260.html) in the *Wall Street Journal* about a courageous United Nations whistleblower named Georges Tadonki. In 2008, Tadonki correctly predicted an outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe. The epidemic, which killed 4,000 people, and an annual [hyperinflation](https://www.cato.org/zimbabwe) of 90 sextillion percent, were the results of Robert Mugabe’s drive to nationalize Zimbabwe’s commercial farms. Unfortunately, the UN bureaucracy, which was much more interested in appeasing Mugabe than helping his long-suffering people, threatened to fire Tadonki because of the revelation.

Congratulations to Bob Amsterdam, a friend of Cato and a human rights lawyer who defended, among others, Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Russia, for his recent [win](http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/?p=53002&cpage=1) of Tadonki’s case before a UN tribunal.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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