On
Child
Soldiers, UN
to Obo Only
With Armed
Security,
Thai
Resolution
Backstory
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 28, updated
-- While the
Central
African
Republic's Obo
region has now
gotten a visit
from a UN
official,
Radhika
Coomaraswamy,
it remains
unclear if or
when the UN
will respond
to
calls to serve
the area.
Inner
City Press
asked on
Monday and was
told that
there are
"discussions"
of UNICEF
opening a
regional
office, and
that on her
trip
Coomaraswamy
had armed
security.
One wondered:
where were the
US military
advisers in
the area to
help hunt the
Lord's
Resistance
Army?
Back in May,
Inner
City Press reported on
requests
"to
establish
at least some
kind of UN
presence in
CAR's
Haut-Mbomou
prefecture and
its capital
Obo. Only two
international
medical NGOs
serve the
area, where
children are
abducted by
the Lord's
Resistance
Army,
according to
Laura Perez of
the Internal
Displacement
Monitoring
Center. Inner
City Press
asked Ms.
Perez why the
UN was
constrained
from at least
purporting to
serve the
area. She
replied
that there is
a weekly
airplane
flight to Obo
but that the
UN
Department of
Safety &
Security says
UN staff can
only go with a
military
escort."
Now
Coomaraswamy
has gone. But
when Inner
City Press
asked her if
the UN is now
establishing
any presence
in Obo, she
said not yet,
the UN serves
it
through an
Italian NGO, later
identified as
COOPI.
Video
here, from
Minute 11.
Inner
City Press
asked if DSS
still requires
military
escort. [The
answer has
been amended
or
supplemented
below.]
Yes, she said,
she was
escorted by
"AMISOM" --
then she
corrected
herself, the
Ugandan
People's
Defense Force,
UPDF. Video
here, from
Minute 17:39.
We
don't always
fasten on
corrected
misstatements.
But here the
fact that
Ugandan
troops serve
as AU / AMISOM
peacekeepers
in Somalia
seems to give
them a
different hue
in the Central
African
Republic.
Should the UN
be traveling
with the UPDF?
Not all would
say yes.
Click
here for photo
of
Coomaraswamy
with UPDF in
Obo.
Update:
despite what
was said at
the noon
briefing and
reported
above, late
Monday
afternoon
after initial
publication of
this article
Coomaraswamy's
office told
Inner City
Press "The
SRSG was not
escorted by
the UPDF or
any military.
DSS provided
security. This
was simply a
mistake in the
noon
briefing."
If NGOs stated
in May that
the UN was not
providing
service in Obo
due to DSS
saying they
needed
military
escort, it is
important that
this be
clarified.
Inner
City Press
asked
Coomaraswamy
about the
Thai-sponsored
resolution
that passed in
the Third
Committee,
without a
vote, during
her absence,
which earned
the Western
characterization
as "Trojan
Horse"
resolution
meant to send
a message to
Coomaraswamy
to reign
herself in. Click
here for
Inner City
Press story,
which is
updated below.
Coomaraswamy
replied
that the first
draft caused
some "alarm,"
but the
draft that
passed is "not
of concern."
Inner
City Press
is informed
that the US,
represented by
John F.
Sammis, asked
that
Thailand in
its statement
explicitly
says that the
word
"continue"
applied also
to "acting in
full
observation" -
in essence,
that
Coomaraswamy
HAD been
acting
appropriately.
Thailand
did
include this
in its
statement, but
apparently
Sammis did not
hear it.
He asked for a
suspension and
marched to the
back of the
conference
room. Once he
was shown the
statement that
was read out,
he returned
to his seat --
without
apologizing,
it is said.
The US
administration
says it plays
well with
others at the
UN - but does
it?
Finally,
Inner
City Press
asked
Coomaraswamy
about Myanmar.
She said, as
she has
before, that
Myanmar may
soon sign an
action plan on
child soldier
recruiting,
the remaining
issues involve
"access."
Don't
they always?
We'll have
more on this.
, 
