By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 1
-- A week
after French
troops
reportedly
killed five
civilians in
the
"Cameroonian
district" of
the PK5
neighborhood
in Bangui, Central
African
Republic,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Humanitarian
John Ging
about it, and
about the
killing by
ex-Seleka
forces of
three MSF aid
workers and 13
patients in
Boguila. Video
here,and
embedded
below.
Ging, making a
plea for more
international
help, mourned
the dead MSF
colleagues but
seemed to say
that the only
people raising
questions
about the
troops who
have come to
CAR are those
inciting
violence. He
did not
mention
killings by
the Chadian
troops; nor
did he
directly
address that
French
soldiers
killed five
civilians,
according to
spokesman for
the Muslim
community in
PK5 Abakar
Moustapha.
Moustapha said
the French
soldiers' raid
on a house in
the
neighborhood
when the
Senagalese
owner was not
there led to
opposition
from
residents, to
which the
French
responded with
helicopter and
gunfire
killing five
civilians.
After a
previous
incident in
which the
French
Sangaris
troops were
reported to
have killed
civilians,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN what
its mission
there would
do. Reference
was made to an
investigation,
but no results
have been
announced.
French
Ambassador to
the UN Gerard
Araud stopped
responding to
such Press
questions.
Now the UN
mission in CAR
is set to be
taken over by
Frenchman Herve Ladsous' Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
no longer the
Department of
Political
Affairs. Given
the history,
will this hold
the French
forces more or
LESS to
account?
Ladsous
visited
Brazzaville,
Chad and now
CAR, speaking
to a UN
microphone. At
least Ging
answers
questions.
When Chad's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Mahamat Zene
Cherif -- who
on April 30
told Inner
City Press
that Chad will
not be any
part of
MINUSCA --
came to the
Security
Council
stakeout on
March 7,
beyond asking
him about
child soldiers
Inner City
Press asked
him about
those who have
had to flee
Central
African
Republic into
Chad.
Shouldn't they
be able to
return to CAR?
Video
here and
embedded below
Mahamat
Zene
Cherif said
while Chad
will not force
anyone back,
they should be
able to
return. He
said that
eighty percent
of the Muslims
have been
chased out of
the CAR.
How
can elections
be held this
way, he asked.
Inner
City Press
asked if
perhaps those
displaced
could vote
even while in
Chad. Mahamat
Zene Cherif
said the UN
could check
the
feasibility,
but that Chad
would hope the
displaced
could return
to CAR.
The
day before,
Inner City
Press tried to
ask French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
about a
statement or
report by UN
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay that
the French
Sangaris force
first
disarming the
ex-Seleka had
left Muslim
community
vulnerable to
attack by
Christian
anti-Balaka
militias.
Araud
refused to
take the
question while
at the
microphone,
then from
the wings
insisted there
is no Navi
Pillay report.
Click here for
that.
What
forces allowed
80% of the
Muslims in CAR
to be chased
out? And what
responsibility
do they bear?
Watch this
site.
, 
