UNITED
NATIONS, June
22 -- When a
UN peacekeeper
get killed,
how is “Who
did it”
announced, and
by whom?
In the
case of the
Ethiopian
peacekeeper
killed last
week in
Kadugli, it
wasn't the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations, or
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
despite two
separate sets
of questions
by Inner City
Press at the
noon briefings
of June 14 and
June 18.
On
June 20, DPKO
chief Herve Ladsous
declined to
hold a Press
stakeout on
Sudan, as
his
predecessors
Alain Le Roy
and Jean-Marie
Guehenno
almost
certainly
would have
done.
Rather,
on
June 22 the UN
in Sudan
flatly put in
a report that
the SPLM-North
rebels did it.
The report was
by the Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs; it
was tweeted by
UN Information
Center in
Khartoum, run
by the UN
Department of
Public
Information.
The
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
tweeted
back at UNIC
Khartoum,
asking for an
explanation of
the statement
on SPLM-N,
compared to
the UN in New
York having
said it was
under
investigation
and then
giving no
further
update.
Hours
went by, but
this DPI unit
which had just
tweeted on
this topic did
not response
much less
explain.
On
June 14, Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City Press:
the attack on
Kadugli, I
wanted to ask
you, there
have been
shelling in
the past by
the SPLM-North
[Sudan
People’s
Liberation
Movement/Army]
of the city of
Kadugli. So,
is it possible
to say either
who did it or
at least what
type of shells
were used?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, I do
know that
there is
already an
investigation
under way to
look into this
incident... to
try to
understand and
establish
precisely what
happened. And
that is
something that
is under way.
Therefore, we
cannot really
go into it any
further about
who may or may
not have been
responsible
for it, okay.
Four
days later on
June 18, Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press: I
want to ask
you about
Kadugli and
Sudan where
the
peacekeeper
was killed
last week. The
SPLM-North
[Sudan
People’s
Liberation
Movement-North]
has said that
there had been
shelling on
Friday, what
they called
military
targets in
Kadugli, and
they actually
have now said
that they’ve
resumed
shelling on
Monday. I know
that it was
said initially
that the UN is
investigating
and can’t say
anything, but
there is a
party that is
shelling the
city, so I
wanted to
know, has
there been any
further
development on
the UN’s
investigation?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, as I
said, we will
have to check
into it. The
investigation
continues; I
don’t have any
further
update. We’ll
try and get an
update on the
investigation.
But in
the four days
since there
has been no
update given.
Herve Ladsous
refused to do
a stakeout on
June 20 -- in
the past, when
a peacekeeper
was killed,
the head of
DPKO would
take
questions.
Now
the report UN
Sudan (OCHA)
is here,
stating “On 14
June, a member
of the United
Nations
Interim
Security Force
for Abyei was
killed and two
others injured
when shells
fired by the
Sudan People’s
Liberation
Movement-North
(SPLM-N) hit
the UNISFA
logistics base
in Kadugli.”
So is
it that the UN
in Sudan wants
to tell that
audience that
the SPLM-N did
it, but
Ladsous
doesn't want
to? Or is
Ladsous simply
unable or
unwilling to
provide
information,
even on a dead
peacekeeper?
This is the
type of issue
the Free UN
Coalition is
working on,
including
through its Twitter account @FUNCA_info.
Watch this
site.
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