On
S.
Sudan, UN's
Johnson Says
Russians Flew
After
November, No
Dates
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 23 --
In opening
remarks Monday
on the
bloodshed in
South Sudan's
Jonglei state,
the UN Hilde
Johnson did
not mention
that the UN
Mission had
knowingly been
without
military
helicopters
in the run up
to the attack
on Pibor.
But
as Inner City
Press first
reported on
January 11,
after a
similarly
helicopter-free
briefing by
Johnson's
deputy Lise
Grande, the UN
knew since mid
November that
the Russian
helicopters in
South Sudan
would no
longer
fly.
After
the January
11
story, the
head of the
UN's
Department of
Field Support
Susana
Malcorra
acknowledged
to Inner City
Press that
the lack of
military
helicopters
made it
impossible to
bring to Pibor
"lethal assets
to dissuade"
the attacks.
On January 18,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon gave a
speech saying
he "begged"
for
helicopters,
but hasn't yet
said when, or
even to whom
he begged.
On
Monday, Inner
City Press
three times
asked Hilde
Johnson to
name the date
on which
she knew that
the Russian
helicopters
would not fly.
Video
here, from
Minute 11:17.
First,
Johnson
said that
after the
Russians
notified the
UN of this in
mid November,
after
assurances by
South Sudan it
would comply
with the
Status of
Forces
Agreement, the
Russian flew
"to some team
sites again."
She continued
that
"subsequently"
the Russians
told the UN
they would not
fly.
Inner
City Press
asked again:
when was this
"subsequently"
- when did the
Russians
re-tell the UN
that they
would not fly?
In her second
answer,
Johnson simply
did not answer
this question,
but rather
said
that APCs got
to Pibor
"through the
mud" -- again
without
stating the
timing.
(c) UN Photo
Hilde Johnson
counts
wounded, but
count of dead
still not
released
Allowed
a final
round of
questions,
Inner City
Press for a
third time
asked for the
date(s) --
Johnson now
said "we'll
have to get
back to you, I
don't have
that in front
of me" -- and
asked more
generally for
Johnson's
response to
the critique,
by more than
one member
state,
that she is
viewed as so
close to and
laudatory of
the South
Sudan
government
that she
cannot perform
the "other" UN
envoy
roles of
critique the
government's
free press and
human rights
record, or
even is here
in no hurry to
report
casualty
figures, as
the UN does in
other
countries
where it has
less presence,
because
the South
Sudan
government
also bears
some
responsibily.
Video
here,
from Minute
29:49.
Johnson
replied,
"I can assure
[I act] in
accordance
with my
mandate" and
denied "all
alleged
political or
other
affiliation."
She
said she tells
the government
and in grave
cases the
Security
Council
about
violations.
But other UN
envoy also
publicly
critique
governments,
including host
governments.
How can the
full truth of
what the UN
did and did
not do, and
when, in the
run up to the
bloodshed in
Pibor finally
be known?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
after
Ms. Johnson
finished,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about the UN - AU
envoy in
Darfar Ibrahim
Gambari
socializing
with Sudan
president Omar
al Bashir
at the Rotana
Hotel
in Khartoum. (Click here
for that
January 20
story from
Inner City
Press.)
While Bashir's
indictment by
the
International
Criminal
Court is the
main basis of
the
questioning,
some say that
as Gambari
is to Bashir,
Johnson is
even more so
to Kiir. Is
either
appropriate,
in the UN
system?
Whatever the
answer to
that,
transparency
about these
helicopters is
the least that
should be
expected.
, 
