To
S. Sudan, UN
Confirms 350
Ghana Troops
from Cote
d'Ivoire,
NGO Attacked
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 27 --
After the UN
Security
Council met on
January
27 about one
of the many
former French
colonies on
its agenda,
Cote
d'Ivoire, no
one came to
the UNTV
stakeout to
speak.
New
UN envoy
Aïchatou
Mindaoudou
Souleymane,
who replaced
Bert
Koenders when
he shifted to
Mali, did not
come to New
York, instead
briefing by
video. Inner
City Press went
to the noon
briefing and
asked, video here:
Inner
City
Press: it
seems like the
[Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General]
is probably
not going to
give stake out
– she is
not here — so
I thought I’d
ask you. There
was a reported
ransacking of
a group called
Alternative
Côte d’Ivoire,
which is
the biggest
gay rights
group in the
country and it
was done
today. So I am
wondering,
does she or
the UN have
any comment on
that? Also,
Ghana has said
it would move
some troops or
send some
troops to
South
Sudan. I’m
told this
would actually
come from
UNOCI (United
Nations
Operation in
Côte
d’Ivoire). I
am wondering
if you can
confirm that?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq: On
the question
of Ghanaian
troops,
I can’t
confirm that
just yet.
We’ll have to
see what we
can say
about further
troops to
UNMISS. As you
know, we’ve
been trying to
redeploy some
troops, but I
don’t have any
announcement
to make on
that just yet.
Regarding the
question of
the ransacking
of the gay
rights group,
we’ll check
with UNOCI
whether they
have anything
to
say about this
reported
incident.
By
day's
end, the UN
still had no
comment on the
ransacking of
the NGO.
But Haq's
office sent
this:
Subject:
Your
question on
UNMISS
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Mon, Jan
27, 2014 at
3:02 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
question on
the UN Mission
in South
Sudan, the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
the following
information:
Preparations
are underway
to transfer
350 Ghanaian
troops from
ONUCI to
UNMISS
under
inter-mission
cooperation in
the coming
weeks.
Another
500,
Inner City
Press is told,
would come
from the UN's
mission in
Darfur...
After
the Security
Council
finished with
Cote d'Ivoire
on
January 27,
there was
another
session that
was not on the
public
schedule.
Inner City
Press staked
it out and was
told that
questions
had been
asked, on
Central
African
Republic,
about how the
European
Union forces
will work with
the African
MISCA mission.
Assurances
were given; a
scrum of
diplomats
including
France's
continued out
to
the stakeout.
But no one
spoke on
camera. This
is the UN.
, 
