Amid
Killing in
Sudan, DPKO
Says "No
Peacekeeping
Activities"
From Kadugli
Base
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 15 --
For months,
the UN has
been declining
to answer
questions
about fighting
in Sudan's
Southern
Kordofan,
saying it has
no access.
Over
the past two
days there has
reportedly
been ground
fighting near
the capital of
Southern
Kordofan,
Kadugli. But
when Inner
City Press
asked about it
Monday at
noon,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
replied that
he had no
information
about it. Why
not?
When
Inner City
Press asked
earlier this
month about
shelling of
Kadulgi,
Nesirky
confirmed it,
noting that UN
system staff
in Kadulgi had
been
temporarily
taken to a UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
logistics base
five
kilometers
from Kadugli.
After
Inner City
Press asked if
DPKO
peacekeepers
in Southern
Kordofan would
report on
killings they
witnessed
there, even
while on the
way to the
mission in
Abyei, Nesirky
came
back with an
answer that
Inner
City Press: I
don’t know if
you had
another
statement on
Kadugli. What
is the status?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, we have
been checking.
I don’t yet
have a
specific
readout on the
latest
reported
shelling, but
we have
already spoken
very clearly
about the
first one,
which we were
able to
confirm. But I
just wanted to
come back to
you on one
aspect of the
questioning
from
yesterday. The
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
no mandate to
conduct
peacekeeping
operations in
Kadugli or
indeed in the
wider Southern
Kordofan area.
And this would
be a decision
for the
Security
Council, not
for the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
The UN Interim
Security Force
for Abyei
(UNISFA) is
mandated to
conduct
peacekeeping
operations
only in the
Abyei area.
And the
airstrip out
of Kadugli is
not in that
mandated area
of operations.
It is a
logistics base
from which to
re-supply and
support the
mission.
So I
think you will
understand
that it is
normal
practice for
peacekeeping
missions to
maintain
logistics
bases near the
area of
operations, to
enable
efficient
logistical
support. But,
just to
repeat, the
mission has no
mandate to
undertake
peacekeeping
activities
within this
logistics base
— and these
activities are
mandated
within the
Abyei area of
operations,
and that is,
of course, in
accordance
with the
relevant
Security
Council
resolutions. I
think that
that is quite
clear.
And so
despite
fighting
raging right
near Kadugli,
the UN so far
has no
information or
statement.
Does current
DPKO
leadership
interpret or
use "no
mandate to
undertake
peacekeeping
activities" to
permit not
even looking
to see killing
right next
door?
Inner
City Press
previously
asked about
the killing of
a Rwandan
police officer
at DPKO's
Haiti mission
MINUSTAH and
was told it
was going to
be
investigated.
Weeks later,
no results
have been
released.
On
October 15
Inner City
Press asked
about the
death of
another UN
peackeeper,
from Ukraine,
in Liberia,
which the UN
said is being
probed.
On
October 12
Inner City
Press asked
about DPKO
peacekeepers
from Finland
being robbed,
possibly of
weapons, in
Lebanon.
On October 15,
having
received no
response,
Inner City
Press asked
again and was
told that DPKO
had put
together
information
which would be
provided
later. Watch
this site.
Update:
after
Monday's noon
briefing and
the reiterated
question, the
following was
provided:
Subject:
Your
question on
UNIFIL
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Mon, Oct
15, 2012 at
12:23 PM
To: Matthew R.
Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
On 11
October, two
UNIFIL
vehicles
performing a
medical
evacuation
made a wrong
turn and were
stopped and
blocked in the
vicinity of
the village of
Ayta ash-Shab
by a group of
civilians.
Several items
and equipment
belonging to
UNIFIL were
forcibly taken
away. The
Lebanese Armed
Forces were
dispatched to
the area and,
after they
took control
of the
situation, the
UNIFIL convoy
was able to
leave the
village
although the
equipment was
not returned
to the
peacekeepers.
The
Lebanese Armed
Forces
informed
UNIFIL that an
investigation
is underway to
identify the
perpetrators
and to recover
the stolen
equipment.
How
about
identifying
what this
equipment was,
that was
taken?
, 
