In
S.
Sudan, Still
No UN Count,
"Not Smooth"
But When Did
Ban Take
Action?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 20 --
With bloodshed
continuing in
South Sudan's
Jonglei State,
Inner City
Press on
Friday asked
UN Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
what
Ban meant when
he said
that while "we
saw it coming
weeks
before... At
the critical
moment, I was
reduced to
begging."
Specifically,
Inner
City Press
asked if Ban
had started
this "begging"
in
mid November,
when the
Russians
informed the
UN they would
not fly
their
helicopters in
South Sudan
any more,
or only at
Christmas,
when
after five
weeks without
UN military
helicopter
coverage, the
bloodshed
started in
Pibor? Video
here, from
Minute 7:17.
Nesirky
didn't
directly
answer, rather
than that it
was "not just
the Secretary
General
working the
phone." This
leads to the
question:
while
Ban in his
January 18
speech appears
to shift all
the blame
elsewhere, did
he get
involved early
enough in the
critical lack
of
helicopters to
protect
civilians in
one of the
UN's high
profile
missions?
Nesirky
said, "no
one is saying
this went as
smoothly as we
had wanted,"
and noted
that Ban's
envoy Hilde
Johnson will
appear next
week by video
link
and Inner City
Press may want
to ask her.
Fine -- but
what about
being able to
ask Ban
Ki-moon about
it during his
January 25
Q&A?
Nesirky
also said
that Johnson's
deputy Lise
Grande
conducted a
video briefing
after
visiting
Pibor. She did
-- but she
didn't mention
that the UN
had not
had military
helicopters,
and had not
brought
"lethal assets
to
dissuade"
attacks. The
UN only began
to speak about
that after
the Press was
informed about
the lack, by a
member state,
and
reported it.
(c) UN Photo
Ban & his
spokesman: Qs
on Pibor (un)
protecting
civilians
allowed Jan
25?
Despite
South Sudan
elected
officials
providing
numbers, high
in Pibor and
80 in Duk
County,
Nesirky did
not answer
Inner City
Press'
question if
the UN
has its own
number(s) in
Duk, and if it
yet has a
casually
figure in
Pibor.
The UN goes on
issuing
casualty
figures in
places it has
little
presence on
the ground,
while not
doing so in
South Sudan
where it has a
large
peacekeeping
mission. There
are many
outstanding
questions,
that not only
Hilde Johnson
but Ban
Ki-moon
should answer.
Watch this
site.
, 
