UN
Tells S. Sudan
To Take Any
Peacekeeper,
But
Morocco Not in
AU, Bangla
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 30 --
Speaking about
South Sudan,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous on
December 30
said "we will
not look
pleasantly" if
there are, "as
there seem to
have been,
some
caveats" about
which
countries'
troops South
Sudan would
accept
as
peacekeepers.
"There
should be no
objection to
anyone coming
in," Ladsous
intoned,
before telling
Inner City
Press, "I do
not answer
you, Mister."
Video
here.
Inner
City Press set
out to find
which
countries
South Sudan
was objecting
to -- which is
its sovereign
right, as a
number of
other nations'
diplomats
pointed out,
speaking
exclusively to
Inner City
Press about
this and which
countries.
Morocco
is
an ally of
France,
Ladsous'
country which
he represented
on the UN
Security
Council as
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
in 1994 during
the Rwanda
genocide.
But
Morocco is NOT
a member of
the African
Union, which
South Sudan
is,
because of the
issue of
Western
Sahara. South
Sudan
recognizes
Western Sahara
-- and
therefore has
a right not to
want Moroccan
troops in its
country.
Although
the
UN sent 73
Bangladeshi
peacekeepers
to South Sudan
from a formed
police unit in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
South Sudanese
sources tell
Inner City
Press they had
a problem with
Bangladesh's
battalions in
the past,
mentioning
Western
Equatoria
around 2005,
"under Jan
Pronk" then
envoy to Sudan
and what
is now South
Sudan.
The
problems
included
allegations of
sexual abuse
and
exploitation,
statutory
rape, and lack
of
accountability.
If UN
Peacekeeping
under
Ladsous
continues to
allow this --
witness the
lack of
updates on the
alleged gang
rapes by
Chadian
peacekeepers
in MINUSMA in
Mali -- why
should South
Sudan put up
no resistance
to such
deployments?
And so
on.
South
Sudan is more
than willing
to take
peacekeepers
from, for
example,
"Nigeria or
Zimbabwe," or
Togo
which like
Morocco,
Pakistan,
Guatemala and
Azerbaijan is
leaving the
Security
Council
after two
years on
December 31.
(Inner City Press
photo
of Team Togo's
December 30
goodbye at the
stakeout,
here.)
So
why, some
wonder, would
Ladsous be
pushing back
so publicly,
for Morocco?
They call it
FrancAfrique.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Anyway,
Morocco is
slated to send
500 "UN
guards" to
Central
African Republic,
see Inner
City Press' exclusive
story here.
, 
