UN's
Ban
Knew Had No
Copters in
South Sudan
for 6 Weeks,
Now Passes the
Buck
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 19 --
When the
bloodbath in
Pibor in South
Sudan began,
local people
blamed the UN
for not
arriving fast
enough, and
not acting to
try to stop
the attackers.
On
January 18, Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon
said, "at the
critical
moment, I was
reduced to
begging
for
replacements
from
neighboring
countries and
missions. With
limited
resources, we
tried our
best."
Is
this a rare
candid
statement, or
a passing of
the buck?
After
asking
questions and
writing
about the UN's
slow response
in Pibor as
early as
January 2,
Inner City
Press on
January 11
reported that
the UN had
known since
mid November
that the
Russian
helicopters
would not fly
anymore in
South Sudan.
Immediately
UN officials
pushed back,
saying that it
is customary
for
helicopters to
fly for the UN
even after the
UN has, as
here, allowed
the Letter of
Assist to
expire. But
the UN had
been told that
the Russian
helicopters
would not fly.
Inner City
Press repeated
asked Ban's
Office of the
Spokesperson
about this;
lead spokesman
Martin Nesirky
claimed that
the UN would
not be
discussing its
negotiations
about
helicopters.
The
representative
of another
large troop
contributing
country told
Inner City
Press that
under Ban, and
his Department
of Field
Support,
paperwork has
gotten
"sloppy," and
the
Secretariat
has tried to
play one
member state
off against
another. "They
are just using
the UN as a
platform, a
launching
pad," the
representative
told Inner
City Press.
As Inner City
Press quoted
in its January
11 story, "Maybe
when asked to
come and help
civilians,
[the Russians]
should have,"
one Security
Council member
told Inner
City Press.
"But they
weren't
required to
and it's [the
UN's] fault
that they
didn't have an
agreement with
the Russians.
Now they're
trying to
blame it on
them." Click here for Ban's
January 18
"Responsibility
to Protect"
speech.
In
a January 16
interview with
Inner City
Press, DFS
Under
Secretary
General Susana
Malcorra
said on the
record that
she and
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
contacted the
Russians over
Christmas
about the
issue.
Malcorra
described
belated moves
to get
Bangladeshi
helicopters
from the UN
Mission in the
Congo, and
Ethiopian
helicopters
from Abyei in
north
Sudan.
As Inner City
Press put it
to her, this
seems akin
to a City fire
commissioner,
knowing for
six weeks that
the city does
not have fire
truck
protection,
belatedly
casting all
blame
elsewhere when
the fire
occurs, and he
belatedly
contracts for
other trucks.
Click
here for the
interview.
It
remains
unanswered: if
the UN could
get alternate
helicopters
now, after the
bloodbath, why
wasn't this
possible
before, in
order to stop
the bloodshed?
(c) UN Photo
Ban &
his spokesman:
first,
stonewalling,
then passing
the buck
Inner
City Press has
asked. Rather
than answer,
the
Secretariat
has written,
and Ban delivered,
a speech
entirely
passing the
buck. This is
why this UN
does not
improve. Watch
this site.
, 
