By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 30 --
With reports
from UN staff
in South Sudan
of Ugandan
troops on a
bridge in
Juba, Inner
City Press put
this question
to UN Security
Council
president
Gerard Araud
on December
30: is Uganda
actually a
mediator
between Salva
Kiir and Riek
Machar?
Araud
replied that
Uganda is
there are the
request of the
legitimate
government and
that under
international
law a
government can
invite in such
support. Araud
also praised
the mediation
role of IGAD
-- a grouping
Uganda is a
member of, and
whose "spirit"
Ugandan
president
Yoweri
Museveni says
he is
channeling in
his threats to
Riek Machar.
Moments
earlier,
Inner City
Press asked UN
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
about Uganda
and South
Sudan, and
whether the UN
is providing
any support to
the South
Sudan army now
that is
subject to the
UN's supposed
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy.
Nesirky
said he would
check on the
Policy, and
that the first
question might
be answered by
UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
to take
questions at
the stakeout
with Araud.
But
when Inner
City Press
asked a
question to
Ladsous - see
below -
Ladsous
replied, I do
not answer
you,
Mister.
UN
Video here,
from Minute
4:34; Inner
City Press YouTube here & below.
This was
Ladsous'
"policy"
during the
months Inner
City Press asked about mass rapes by Congolese
Army
battalions 41
and 391,
which the UN
was
supporting.
Strange
policies, this
UN has. UK
coverage here.
The
question Inner
City Press
asked Ladsous
had to do with
something
directly in
his
responsibility:
the killing in
Darfur over
the weekend of
peacekeepers
from Senegal
and Jordan.
Inner City
Press asked
given that,
and the
reported coup
attempt (or
"terrorist
attack") in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, was
this the right
time to be
moving UN
battalions
from those
countries to
South Sudan?
I do
not answer
you, Mister,
Ladsous said.
Then, looking
elsewhere, he
said that it
is a balance,
a "fine
judgment
call."
OK
-- but is the
UN moving
battalions out
of Darfur,
where two
peacekeepers
were just
killed, or
DRC, from
which is
already
removed 73
Bangladeshi
peacekeepers
in a formed
police unit?
(Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
about
Bangladeshi
prime minister
Sheikh
Hasina's
pre-election
crackdown,
including
putting
Khaleda Zia
under house
arrest.
Nesirky said
Oscar
Fernandez
Tarranco had
been there,
and that there
might be a
further
statement.
We'll have
more on this.)
Nesirky
said
the next "new"
deployment to
South Sudan
will be of
Nepalese;
Ladsous
referred to a
contingent
leaving Haiti
and heading to
South Sudan.
Since it is
widely alleged
that it was
peacekeepers
from Nepal,
unscreened by
the UN for
cholera, who
brought that
disease to
Haiti and it
spread due to
the UN's
negligent
sanitation
practices,
questions
should be
answered, by
Ladsous.
Are is
Nepali
contingent he
is moving to
South Sudan
coming from
Haiti? Are
they being
screened for
cholera?
It
emerged that
the UN, beyond
"inter-Mission"
transfers,
will be asking
for 500 truly
new
peacekeepers.
Where will
they come
from? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
UN Under
Secretaries
General saying
they have
a policy
against answering
particular
media's
questions is
something
that is being
opposed by the
new
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
along with cynical
use
of copyright
law to try to
ban leaked
documents from
Google
and engage in
censorship.
More on this,
including
with regard to
the above, to
follow.
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