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Expelled from Sudan, UN Peacekeeper Mops Up in
Eritrea, As UNIFIL Pays for Ships
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 14 -- Brig. Patrick
Davidson-Houston of the UK is a peacekeeper with bad luck. How else to
explain
his expulsion by Sudan earlier this year, and reassignment by the UN to
the
mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, just before it was shut down by the
Security
Council? On Thursday, Inner City Press asked him whether the UN had
checked
with Khartoum before assigning him to the Darfur mission, and whether
he had
any insights into the conflict this summer between Eritrea and
Djibouti. Video
here,
from Minute 49:16.
Davidson-Houston
said he was deeply disappointed by the Sudanese government ordering,
and the UN
taking, him out of Darfur. He said he was selected to work with the
AMIS force
in early 2007, but this was delayed once the Security Council decided
in July
2007 to put the UN in the Darfur mission with the African Union. First
he was
reviewd by the African Union, then by the UN, for a total of five
months. As
luck would have it, after this he only served six months before Sudan
ordered
him out.
This is
explained as a product of Sudan's antipathy to the UK, stretching back
to the
time of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium of the Sudan. We believe current
UK -
Sudan relations are, in fact, more complex, but on Thursday
Davidson-Houston
painted a simple picture. It was similar to UNAMID force commander
Martin
Agwai's statement on Tuesday that no-bid contractor Lockheed Martin
failed
because Sudan doesn't like the U.S.. The question in each case is, what
changed?
Brig.
Patrick
Davidson-Houston, next UN assignment not shown
How could
Lockheed Martin in April 2007 have been, as Jane Holl Lute said, the
only and
best company for the job in Darfur, then face as an American company
face so
much resistance from Sudan that they were worst or most burdened
company?
For Davidson-Houston,
why was he acceptable in November 2007, but not so six months later? This, he did not answer. Nor did he have
answers
about Djibouti, except to say that those that Ban Ki-moon sent to the
region
were not allowed into Asmara.
Appearing
alongside Davidson-Houston was the UN's force commander in Lebanon,
Claudio
Graziano. Inner City Press asked him about the the roadside bombs that
killed
six Spanish peacekeepers and injured others: what has been done to
obtain
"risk mitigation" equipment? Video
here,
from Minute 29:45. The UN itself
procures some, Graziano said, for troop contributing countries with
fewer
resources, which he would not name.
Inner City Press also asked him who UNIFIL's naval
component gets paid,
having heard of Germany overcharging for its ships. Video here,
from Minute
39:11.
"It's a good piece of
money," he
said, adding, "I am not an expert in naval compensation." But who is?
Because otherwise, countries that could and should go peacekeepin at
cost are,
in fact, makin money. DPKO has been asked, too, about its currency
exchange
practices and losses.
Footnote: coming
full circle to the UK and Sudan,
on Thursday the UK Mission to the UN provided Inner City Press with an
answer,
such as it is, to a request for comment:
John [Sawers] is away at present,
but we don't have any comment on the special prosecutor for Darfur.
We don't have any comment on your
question about Warren Sach, this is a matter for the UN.
David Veness was an outstanding
UN staff member and his resignation is a loss to the UN system. As and when the Secretariat chooses to
recruit a successor, the successful candidate should be appointed on
merit.
Which is
how Brig. Davidson-Houston thought
things worked...
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and
this --
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