By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
24 -- In the
Central
African
Republic, the
planned UN
mission
MINUSCA is not
slated to take
over until
September 15.
Until then,
when Inner
City Press has
asked
questions
about killings
and
disappearances
by the current
MISCA force,
the UN has
either refused
to
answer, or
has said,
“Ask MISCA.”
But
for the most
part, MISCA
will be
“re-hatted” as
the UN mission
on September
15. On
July 24, Inner
City Press
asked a panel
from Medecins
Sans
Frontieres
about MISCA's
performance in
CAR.
Sylvain
Groulx, MSF's
Head of
Mission in
CAR, said it
is clear from
the level of
killing that
not enough
peacekeeping
is being
done.
In response to
Inner City
Press'
question about
MSF's
"Where Is
Everyone"
report,
Groulx described
MSF running
the water
system in
Bangui and the
successor aid
group being
very slow in
taking over
responsibility
for it.
Funding for
humanitarian
emergencies is
down, he said.
When
Inner City
Press asked
about the
Moroccan guard
unit approved
by the UN
Security
Council, the
MSF position
of not
requesting
armed
protection for
aid workers,
only for
civilians,
came out.
Inner City
Press also
asked for
MSF's view on
cholera
in Haiti of
the UN's role.
There was a
lot of
silence,
followed by
the statement
that as a medical
organization
MSF is
concerned with
treating those
with cholera,
not with how
it got to the
island. This
is one of the
(many) reasons
that the UN is
able to remain
UNaccountable.
We'll have
more on this.
On July 22
Inner City
Press asked
Mia Farrow,
back from her
recent trip to
the Central
African
Republic as a
UNICEF
Goodwill
Ambassador,
about the “UN”
mission
MINUSCA being
mostly MISCA,
re-hatted.
"If
that's what it
morphs into,"
Mia Farrow
said, "that
would be like
Darfur,
[UNAMID]...
it's never
going to be
the answer."
Recently
in
Darfur,
the UNAMID
mission has
been exposed
for
withholding
information
about the
level of
killing.
MISCA /
MINUSCA seems
already headed
down that
road.
Inner
City Press
also asked Mia
Farrow if
during her
time in CAR,
her fourth
trip to the
country, she
had seen any
visible work
there by the
UN
Peacekeeping
Commission
“configuration,”
in the UN
jargon. No,
she said. And
that too is
telling.
Mia
Farrow was
asked an open
ended question
about what she
would like the
Security
Council to do
for CAR and
other
countries.
She said she'd
prefer to keep
her July 22
briefing
focused on the
too-often
ignored and
forgotten
Central
African
Republic, but
that UN
improvements
are needed. We
agree - that
is what the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is working
for. Watch that site, and this.
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