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At UN, Chad's Attempt to Re-Rent Peacekeepers' Air Strips
Covered Up in Council
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 14 --
Chad's government, led by Idriss Deby, attempted to reclaim air strips
built in
the country by European Union peacekeepers and then rent them for
profit to the
incoming United Nations force, sources tell Inner City Press. The UN
Security
Council met on February 13 about the peacekeeping mission, known as
MINURCAT.
Afterwards, this month's Council president Yukio Takasu told the Press
that an
air strip issue, which he did not explain, had been resolved just
before the
meeting.
Afterwards, several Council Ambassadors speaking to
Inner City Press on
condition of anonymity said they were disgusted that a government like
Deby's,
which took power by a coup d'etat and
has since at least twice been saved from overthrow by French military
intervention, would try to make money off peacekeeping mission which
indirectly
also keep Deby in power. They confirmed that Deby's play was to lay
claim to the
infrastructure improvement built by the EUFOR peacekeepers, sent in
response to
reported refugee flows from Darfur, and then re-rent it at a profit to
the UN.
Inner City Press in late 2008 reported
exclusively that landing fees Deby's Chad was imposing had
grounded the peacekeeping force, click here
for that.
The impending hand-over of the Chad and Central
African Republic mission
from the European Union to the UN already faces problems. Poland, the
second
largest troop contributor, is considering pulling back its 400 soldiers
before
they would be "re-hatted" as UN peacekeepers. Inner City Press asked
Ambassador Takasu if this prospective Polish pull-out had been
discussed. Takasu said that troop levels
were discussed,
but not Poland by name.
The author on Chadian airstrip in mid-2008,
landing fees and re-rental try not shown (c) M.Lee
A source in the UN Department of Peacekeeping
Operations tried explaining to Inner City Press the statements from
Poland as part of a re-organization of the Polish
military, and not any criticism of UN Peacekeeping as such. Some
surmise that as
the global financial crisis spread, some countries may reduce their
level of
contributions to the UN, including troops and police. They get
reimbursed for
these, and developing countries use UN Peacekeeping missions to make
money.
Salaries are paid not to the peacekeepers but to their countries, which
pocket
a percentage of the money.
But Chad's attempted extortion, as the host of a
peacekeeping mission
which helps keep its president in power, is a new low, Inner City Press
as told
by disgruntled Council Ambassadors. Watch this site.
Footnotes:
when the Security
Council members visited Chad in mid-2008, Deby declined to meet
with them.
While France's Ambassador told the Press it was because Deby was not in
the
country, it was known Deby had already returned earlier from Libya.
Inner City
Press and others on the trip asked France's Permanent Representative to
the UN to explain the
discrepancy, which has led to tensions.
France's support for Deby's regime,
despite it human
rights violations including recruiting child soldiers, calls into
question much of what France
says at the UN and in the Council, Ambassadors told Inner City Press on
Friday,
describing France's strained congratulations of Deby for backing-down
on his
extortion play. [In fairness, France's Permanent Representative is
traveling and was not in Friday's meeting] When asked for France's
position on the humanitarian
crisis in Sri Lanka and putting it on the Security Council's agenda
or at least
getting a briefing, the response Thursday was that France's position
wasn't
known.
In memoriam -- we are compelled
to note, and mourn, the death of Africa expert Alison Des Forges, who
was killed in the crash of Flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo on
February 12. Her reports on the region helped many civilians. She will
be missed.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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