In
S. Sudan, UN
Films
Bangladeshi
Peacekeepers,
What's Left
Behind
in DRC?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 27 --
While the UN
has refused to
answer Press
questions
about the
foreseeable
impacts of
moving
peacekeepers
out of
the Eastern
Congo, Darfur,
Abyei and even
Cote d'Ivoire,
on December
27 it uploaded
to YouTube a
video
featuring 72
Bangladeshi
UNPOL
peacekeepers
arriving in
South Sudan
from now
less-protected
by
unspecified
parts of the
DRC.
The
Bangladeshi
move, approved
quickly by
prime minister
Sheikh
Hasina
whom the UN
has purported
just a week
before to be
pressuring for
flexibility in
upcoming
elections,
was meant to
show how
seriously
the UN takes
the protection
of civilians.
But what is
being left
behind in the
Congo? Why not
answer that
question? See
longer form
analysis on
Beacon Reader,
here.
The
UN Security
Council, whose
president for
December
Gerard Araud
told
Inner City
Press that the impact
of the
shifting of
peacekeepers
had
not been
discussed,
was slated to
here from the
UN's envoy to
South
Sudan Hilde
Johnson on
December 27.
But that
session was
canceled,
so that
Johnson could
go to the IGAD
meeting in
Nairobi and
presumably
make Salva
Kiir's case.
Now
it is
re-scheduled
for 10 am on
December 30.
At least the
Council is
meeting on
South Sudan --
with 11
peacekeepers
killed this
month in
Central
African
Republic,
the Council
barely meets
on it.
France's
president
Francois
Hollande and
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon --
location
undisclosed --
had a
telephone chat
and different
read-outs
on December
27. Hollande
said he wants
the UN to play
a more
important role
(read, pick up
the slack,
save the
bacon, cut and
run)
and Ban
Ki-moon
promised to
consult with
the Security
Council on the
coming days.
But
where is
he? The UN
will not say,
despite a
request from
the Free
UN
Coalition for
Access.
This, the UN
tries to erase
-- or Ban --
from
its
transcripts,
click here for
that. And
so it goes in
Ban's UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
