South
Sudan
Has Pilots for
2 of 10
Copters, UN
Says,
Disarming
Assurances by
VP
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 15 --
Following the
deadly
violence in
Pibor and
elsewhere in
Jonglei State,
the UN Mission
in South Sudan
explained
its slow
reaction by
saying that it
had thought
its Russian
helicopters
would fly, and
that it was
and is
reasonable to
rely for the
protection of
civilians on
the government
and SPLA.
Thursday
in
front of the
Security
Council Inner
City Press
asked UNMISS
chief
Hilde
Johnson
about reports
that the
government did
not use its
ten
Mi-17
helicopters
and that the
ethnic make up
of the SPLA
led to a
failure to
protect the
Murle. Video
here, from
Minute 9:35.
Johnson
said the
allegation
about the
non-use of
helicopter was
"incorrect"
-- then
admitted that
Sout Sudan has
only two crews
of two pilots
so
the flights to
Pibor were
"limited."
She did not
address
the allegation
that the SPLA
left the Murle
unprotected,
which is not
dissimilar to
the allegation
that in
Southern
Kordofan the
UN's
Egyptian
peacekeepers
did not move
to stop forces
aligned with
Sudan's
National
Congress
Party.
Khartoum has
its misdeeds,
which we cover
extensively.
But this
doesn't mean
the SPLA is
perfect.
Now
their move is
for disarming
the tribes,
which some
call forced
disarmament.
Uganda's
Museveni
government did
it with the
Karamojong and
that worked
out badly, as
Inner City
Press was
told last week
by Uganda's
Betty Bigombe.
Inner City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about the
South Sudan
disarmament
plan and
what
safeguards are
in place. She
replied, "I
can't give you
the
South Sudan
briefing on
the
disarmament
plan [but
there are]
steps
and layers."
She said it
will be
"voluntary and
not
forcible,"
that she met
with Vice
President
Machar who
"gave
assurances."
Inner
City Press
asked Hilde
Johnson if the
UN has any
view of the
disarmament
being
led by former
rebel Peter
Gadet, given
his track
record.
Johnson
said "who
is in charge
of it is less
relevant to us
in the UN, as
long as
policy
implemented."
Somehow this
sounded
similar to UN
officials up
to Ban Ki-moon
and the head
of
peacekeeping,
Herve
Ladsous,
having no
comment on an
alleged war
criminal, Sri
Lankan
General
Shavendra
Silva,
becoming a UN
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
""who is in
charge of it
is less
relevant to us
in the UN" - really?
Inner
City Press
had asked
Ladsous a
simple
question when
he left the
Security
Council, a
question that
a Security
Council member
had asked
Inner
City Press:
are the
Bangladeshi
helicopters,
temporary
replacements
for the
departed
Russians, in
place?
Ladsous did
not slow or
answer,
in contrast to
the two
previously
heads of
peacekeeping,
Jean-Marie
Guehenno (now
Kofi Annan's
first deputy
on Syria) and
Alain Le Roy.
It seems that
DPKO has hit a
new low with
Ladsous.
On
the question
of
the Russian
helicopters,
when Hilde
Johnson
briefed by
video she told
Inner City
Press that
while the
Russian said
they would not
fly in
mid-November
2011, that
"subsequently"
she was told
that
they would
fly.
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked her to
name the
date she was
told this, as
Russian
diplomats tell
Inner City
Press it
is not true. Johnson said
she would have
to check and
get back with
the
information;
it has yet to
happen.
Likewise,
the UN
has yet to
state how many
people it
believes were
killed in
Pibor.
They disagreed
with the
assessment of
the County
Commissioner
-- the
same one now
being relied
on for
disarmament --
but never
provided
their own
estimate,
while going
public with
casualty
figures in
places the UN
has much less
presence on
the ground.
As
previously
said, it may
be that Hilde
Johnson is so
close with,
and such a
supporter of,
the South
Sudan
government and
SPLA that she
is not
able to
perform the
oversight
functions that
the UN should.
If the
disarmament
goes badly,
would Hilde
Johnson say
it? Would the
US and Susan
Rice? We'll
see.
, 
