On
US
Power Trip,
MSF Slams UN
in CAR, Chad's
Adam, Juba
Next?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 19 --
Two days into
a three day
Africa trip by
US
Ambassador to
the UN
Samantha
Power, the
State
Department has
issued
a December 19
Media Advisory
about the
December 17 -
20 trip, to
Central
African
Republic,
Nigeria and
Chad.
The
latter two
countries are
coming onto
the UN
Security
Council on
January 1, and
the Advisory
says "during
stops in
Nigeria and
Chad, the
Ambassador is
meeting senior
government
officials and
civil
society
leaders to
discuss
cooperation on
a range of
issues from
promoting
human rights
and good
governance to
coordinating
on
regional
security."
On
the chess
board of
crises in
French
colonial
interests,
Nigeria
pulled
soldiers out
of the UN
Mission in
Mali -- but
Chad is there,
and
prospectively
in CAR as
well, over the
objections of
Cameroon.
Why
is Cameroon
opposed to
Chadian
involvement in
the CAR?
Sources at the
UN tell Inner
City Press
that because
Chad has been
a supporter of
France's CAR
semi-strongman
Bozize,
overthrown by
the Seleka
rebels,
Cameroon and
others are
concerned Chad
would help
Bozize return.
(On
the other
hand, the
sources say,
Chad hedged
its bet with
Nourdine
Adam of the
Seleka
coalition, one
reason that
Samantha
Power's French
counterpart Gerard
Araud was so
adamant that
France had not
"arrested"
Adam.)
So
in Chad, one
wonders, did
Samantha Power
look into the
gang rape
charges
against Chad's
UN
"peacekeepers"
in Mali?
To
her credit, in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo Samantha
Power did
raise
the Congolese
Army's rapes
in Minova to
DRC president
Joseph Kabila,
as another
member of the
Council trip
told Inner
City Press,
which
reported
it first.
This
trip is "solo"
or
all-American,
including new
Assistant
Secretary of
State for
African
Affairs Linda
Thomas-Greenfield
who
had just been
in Somalia.
Inner
City Press on
December 17
asked if Power
was, in fact,
going to the
CAR, in
light of Medecins
Sans
Frontieres'
report of UN
inaction
while people
were killed
and suffering
just outside
the gates of
their
compounds.
The question
was not
answered at
that time.
Now one
might wonder
if Power might
head to or in
some way
address the
crisis
in South
Sudan, a
country in
Africa in
which the US
has more
responsibility.
One also
wonders: is it
true that the
UN, whose Ban
Ki-moon told
Inner City
Press he had not
reached out to
or spoken with
Riek Machar,
asking Uganda
to mediate?
Watch this
site.
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