In
S. Sudan, What
Were US
Military
Aircraft Doing
Heading to Bor?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 21,
updated -- The
shooting of a
US military
aircraft
heading in
South Sudan to
Bor raises a
number of
questions.
Before he
left for
Hawaii,
President
Barack Obama
sent to
Congress a
"Report
Consistent
with the War
Powers Act"
that he was
sending 45 US
military
personnel to
South Sudan."
Obama
stated,
"although
equipped for
combat, this
force was
deployed
for the
purpose of
protecting
U.S. citizens
and property."
So
what were
US military
aircraft doing
heading to
Bor? Was it
only to
protect US
citizens and
property? Or
was it to
support US
ally Salva
Kiir, against
former (thrown
out) vice
president Riek
Machar?
Yesterday
as
Inner City
Press reported
on former US
Ambassador to
the UN Susan
Rice recorded
a recorded a
five minute
speech to the
people of
South
Sudan, uploaded
by Grant
Harris here.
Rice is
closely
associated
with the
country's
independence;
Inner City
Press
witnessed her
in October 2010
giving a pep
talk to young
recruits a
short UN
helicopter
ride from Juba
in Rejaf /
Rajaf. Click
here for
Inner City
Press story.
Her
speech, though
long, doesn't
mention the
performance of
the UN.
Should
it be pulling
armed
peacekeepers
out of areas
where
civilians
are under
threat, like
in Yuai? Why
wasn't the UN
able or
willing to
contact Riek
Machar in the
day or days
after the
violence
began?
Why is the US
seeming to
side entirely
with Salva
Kiir against
Riek Machar.
Inner City
Press has
asked in the
UN about Peter
Gadet - more
on that to
come.
Rice's
successor as
US Ambassador
to the UN
Samantha
Power,
meanwhile, as
been in the
Central
African
Republic and
Chad, from
which she
tweeted
Friday night
she had raised
the issue of
the
recruitment of
child
soldiers, for
which Chad is
on the UN list
even as UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve Ladsous
accept this
former French
colony into
the UN mission
in
Mali, MINUSMA.
Once
there, the
Chadian troops
are charged
with gang
rape. Did
Ambassador
Power raise
that, as she
raised the
Congolese
Army's rapes
in Minovo
to Joseph
Kabila during
the UN
Security
Council's trip
there?
Chad
is part of the
peacekeeping
mission in the
Central
African
Republic,
even as they
are viewed as
supporters of
the Seleka
rebels. What
Power say
about that?
How and will
when she and /
or others at the
US Mission or
State
Department
explain what
the US
military aircraft
were doing?
The
UN, since a
Friday noon
briefing full
on
contradictions
has gone
silence other
than a
statement
ostensibly
from Ban
Ki-moon, who
is in
the
Philippines.
The UN says it
will have no
briefings at
all next
week, despite
developments
in South
Sudan. Will
the US have
more to
say? It
should. Watch
this site.
Update:
after
publication of
this article,
the US Mission
in Juba has
said that the
flight(s) to
Bor were for
evacuation
purposes.
Inner
City Press has
requested
further information,
including from
AfriCom, which
responded:
, 
