As
S. Sudan
Blames UN for
Copter
Downing, UN
Stonewalls on
CAR, Budget,
DRC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 26 --
After the
South Sudan
Army shot down
a UN
helicopter in
Pibor on
December 21,
its spokesman
said the SLPA
"asked UNMISS
whether they
had any flight
in the area
but they
denied it."
On
December 26,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN to
respond to
this quote,
and to provide
any updates on
the shooting
down of the
helicopter,
which killed
all four
Russian crew,
including to
"please
describe the
process for
deciding on
compensation
to be paid in
this
case."
Along
with these
questions,
Inner City
Press posed
questions
about Sudan
(Darfur),
Central
African
Republic, the
UN Budget and
the UN's
inaction on
126 rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese Army
with which the
UN works.
Of
these
questions, by
close of
business on
December 26
the UN had
only
responded to
one: the shot
down
helicopter.
And even on
that, all the
UN said was
"On the UNMISS
helicopter:
The
investigation
into
the incident
is under way
and we will
have more to
say when that
is
complete."
This
gives no
confidence. As
we reported
earlier on
December 26,
while the
UN has been
claiming for
four months it
would
investigate
and report
on its
inaction in
Cote d'Ivoire
as internally
displaced
people were
killed in the
Nahibly IDP
camp, last
week the UN
envoy there Bert
Koenders told
the government
newspaper
Fraternite
Matin that the
investigation
is not
finished, but
that the UN
did nothing
wrong.
There
was been an
even longer
stonewalling
by the UN and
its Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous on
their
introduction
of
cholera into
Haiti, and now
on the FARDC
rapes in
Minova, on
which
Ladsous has
repeated
refused
questions, to
the point of
having DPKO's
spokesman
seize the UN
TV microphone
on December
18, video here.
So
when WILL the
DPKO have more
to say? And
when will
these
questions be
answered?
Dec
26-1 In Sudan,
please confirm
or deny the
capture of the
Sudanese
Army base at
Golo, and the
reported aeral
bombing around
it.
Dec
26-3 In
Central
African
Republic, what
is the UN
system
presence if
any in the
rebel-taken
towns of Kaga
Bandoro (and,
as asked
before,
Bambari, Ippy
and Ndassima?
Any comment on
the violent
protests at
the French
embassy in
Bangui? In
light of the
Secretary
General's
recent speech
to the
Security
Council about
the
Peacebuilding
Commission,
what is his
comment on the
CAR
Peacebuilding
Configuration
being without
a chair?
Dec
26-4 Does the
Secretary
General have
any comment
now on the UN
Budget
session,
generally or
in particular
the
non-adoption
of his
mobility
proposal?
Also
-- it should
go without
saying -- any
and all
information on
which
Congolese
units were in
Minova during
the 126+
rapes, which
FARDC
units MONUSCO
supports, and
any
suspensions of
support in the
last
year.
That
these last
question have
not been
answered is
all too
telling. Watch
this site.
, 
