UN's
Ging
Rings CAR
Alarm, Doesn't
Want Military
Escort,
Ladsous
Behind Walls
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 29 --
The Central
African
Republic has
been falling
apart; in August the
UN Security
Council took
no action on
its due to
the vacations
of senior
diplomats from
France,
which "holds
the
pen" for
the Council on
the CAR.
Now
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
proposes 250
troops, then
560, as
security in
the country.
Inner City
Press asked
John Ging, the
operations
director of
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs, if
the idea is to
use these
troops to
protect aid
workers.
No,
Ging said. "On
the guard
force, it will
be deployed in
support
of the
security of UN
staff on the
ground. For us
on
humanitarian
side of the
UN, we will
not engage the
guard force
excepy as a
last
resort. We
don't want to
be escorted in
our regular
duties."
This
is what some
aid groups in
the Eastern
Congo have
been telling
UN
Peacekeeping:
they don't
want to be
seen as part
of a military
response,
particularly
in the Congo
where the UN
has become a
party
to the
conflict.
But
even in CAR,
Ging said,
they want a
firewall
between
humanitarians
and military
security. Ging
said the force
might be
called if
"offices are
under
attack."He
said, "we try
create a
security
environment
based on an
acceptance
culture in
communities
built around
delivery" of
services.
This
seems
honorable, as
does Ging.
Inner City
Press thanked
him for the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access for
doing a
briefing about
his trip, and
suggested that
other
Departments --
UN
Peacekeeping
of the taciturn
Herve
Ladsous,
and the
Department of
Political
Affairs under
Jeffrey
Feltman --
should also
start or
revert to
doing
briefings on
trips.
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky, as
soon as Inner
City Press
said other
departments
should do
briefings, cut
in as if
to block like
a wall and
said, "What's
your
question?"
Video
here, from
Minute 21:29.
Well,
Ladsous'
predecessors
Alain Le Roy
and Jean-Marie
Guehenno do
them;
Ladsous is in
another former
French colony,
Cote d'Ivoire.
Will he
return and
take
questions?
Watch this
site.
, 
