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Ban's Man Dodges ONUCI Sex Abuse Questions, Zero
Said on Zero Tolerance
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press in Africa: News Analysis
IVORY COAST, June
9 -- A scandal of sexual abuse
within the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, ONUCI, became public on May 27,
and at
UN headquarters Assistant Secretary General Jane Holl Lute answered
Inner City
Press that the report would be taken very seriously, particularly
because it
alleged that the senior leadership of UNUCI was told of the abuse and
did
nothing.
On May 30,
Burkina-Faso's Ambassador to the UN Michel Kafando, on the eve of
leaving on a
Security Council trip to Africa during which he would lead the Cote
d'Ivoire
leg, answered Inner City Press that the issue of sexual abuse would be
raised
in the Council's meeting in the country with all senior leadership,
which
includes Choi Young-Jin of UNOCI and even President Gbagbo.
On June 9
at a press conference in Abidjan after Choi, Kafando and other six
other
Security Council representatives met Gbagbo, Inner City Press asked
about the
sexual abuse report, and what was being done about it.
Amb. Kafando referred the question to Mr.
Choi. It seemed like, with the build-up, an answer would be
forthcoming, on the
less than two week old report, as well as on the earlier repatriation
of an
entire battalion of UN peacekeepers back to Morocco after allegations
of
systematic sexual abuse and exploitation of under-aged girls.
Mr. Choi in Abidjan, previous ONUCI sexual abuse answer not shown
But Mr.
Choi's answer was that on May 30 he had held a press conference about
the May
27 report, and that he would be happy to share a copy of his opening
statement.
That was it. Afterwards, as the Ambassadors rushed to the airport to
fly back
to New York, ONUCI's spokespeople were not around. An Inner City Press
source
in ONUCI who was present at Choi's May 30 press conference recounted
that all
he'd said that is that they were "old allegations" and that they were
under investigation. This does not
appear to be the type of take-charge, zero-tolerance leadership that
Jane Holl
Lute has promised. The question, it was implied, should simply not have
been
asked. But of course it was going to be asked. Jane Holl Lute said the
issue of
ONUCI senior leadership's role is an important one that will be
inquired into,
and Amb. Kafando said the issue would be discussed in the meetings in
Abidjan,
in which Mr. Choi took part. So why no answer?
Even Mr.
Choi's equivalent in the Congo, Alan Doss, publicly answered a public
question
in Kinshasa about allegations that peacekeepers traded guns for gold
with
militias. He said how it was being investigated, he discussed publicly
the
specifics of the allegations, and which part had already been found to
be true. While Mr. Choi is to his credit said to be a very hard
worker, responding to public questions about ONUCI would appear to be
part of the job.
Perhaps, a ONUCI source suggested, since Mr. Choi is so close with
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and now with Ivorian leader Laurent
Gbagbo, he
feels no need to be politically correct. Time will tell.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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