In
South Sudan as
Official Says
3000 Killed,
UN Said
"Dozens,"
Ignores Ethnic
Cleansing
Question
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 6 --
While in South
Sudan the
Commissioner
of Pibor
County Joshua
Konyi is
quoted that
"There have
been mass
killings, a
massacre, we
calculate so
far that 2,182
women and
children were
killed and 959
men died," the
head of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
on January 5
put the number
as "several
dozen."
How
can the UN,
with a large
peacekeeping
mission in
South Sudan,
be unable or
unwilling to
count the
number of
civilians who
were killed,
or to
maintain a
number so much
lower than
local
officials?
Inner City
Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, at
the UN's
January 6 noon
briefing, to
explain the
UN's and
Ladsous low
estimate and
the "huge
discrepancy."
Video
here, from
Minute 6:06.
Nesirky
disputed
the statement
of the local
official, even
that is WAS a
statement of
a local
official,
saying "these
are media
reports
quoting an
official...
there are
other reports
with different
numbers."
While
some
wondered if
the UN would
try to reach
local
officials and
get them to
reduce their
casualty
estimates,
Nesirky said
"it is
important
to note that
the
humanitarian
operations is
a main focus
at the
moment."
This mirrored
the UN's
response to
the charge
they
introduced
cholera to
Haiti: the UN
wanted to
focus on the
future,
not the past.
But these
killings took
place less
than a week
ago.
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
and Ladsous:
"dozens"
killed or
3000?
After
Nesirky
similarly
refused to
confirm
casualty
figures
reported by
officials
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Inner City
Press asked if
the UN would
even issue
estimates of
the number of
people killed
there and in
Pibor, as the
UN has in
other
countries.
Let's see,
Nesirky. Yes:
let's.
Footnote:
When
Ladsous spoke
to the press
in a rare
stakeout on
January 5,
while his
microphone
worked, the
microphone
used by the
press to ask
question was
turned
off. Video
here.
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky on
January 6
if this could
be benignly be
attributed to
the budget
cuts Ban
Ki-moon made
so much of
last month.
"Good
question,
Matthew,"
Nesirky said,
adding that
Ladsous heard
the questions,
and answered
them.
But
asked if what
happened in
Pibor was
"ethnic
cleansing,"
Ladsous never
answered the
question.
Watch this
site.
, 
