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For Shots At Copter, UN Threatens M23 With Prosecution, Will Do in S. Sudan?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 29 -- The UN says two of its helicopters were fired on in Eastern Congo on December 26, from positions north of Goma held by the M23. No injuries are mentioned.

  The UN "reminds" M23 that firing on UN helicopters "constitutes a war crime. Those responsible for such acts will be prosecuted," presumably in the International Criminal Court.

  It's good to be proactive. But what of South Sudan's admitted shooting down of a UN helicopter over Pibor on December 21, which killed the four Russians in the crew?

  Surely this deadly downing of a UN copter will trigger the prosecution for war crimes with which the UN is threatening M23?

   On December 26, Inner City Press asked the UN to "provide any update on the shooting down of the UN helicopter by South Sudan, including specifically providing response to quote by SPLA spokesperson Philip Aguer that 'We saw a white plane landing and asked UNMISS whether they had any flight in the area but they denied it. The army opened fire because it thought it was an enemy plane supplying Yau Yau with weapons.' Also, please describe the process for deciding on compensation to be paid in this case."

  The UN responded that, "On the UNMISS helicopter: The investigation into the incident is under way and we will have more to say when that is complete."

   Presumably that "more to say" will include the announcement of prosecution for war crimes. On the question of intent, on the Congo the UN immediately said the firing was "deliberate."

   What was the basis of that, without the "investigation" being done in South Sudan? What was the basis of calling the South Sudan shooting accidental, even before the investigation? Does this lack of consistency serve to put peacekeepers more at risk?

   The UN is become more and more mired in and seemingly comfortable with such double standards.

 The UN tells countries to practice the rule of law -- then refuses to respond to detailed legal claims that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations introduced deadly cholera to Haiti.

   DPKO in Cote d'Ivoire pretends to call on the Ouattara government to speed up its investigate the killing of perceived Gbagbo supporters in the Nahibly IDP camp -- when the UN hasn't finished its own investigation (and envoy Bert Koenders has already exonerated himself and the UN.)

   The UN calls on some countries to respect freedom of the press, but allows its head of DPKO Herve Ladsous to refuse to answer participate media's questions, even to seize the UN TV microphone to try to avoid the questions, about rapes by the Congolese army in Minova, to be asked. Video here.

Footnote: As we reported on December 27, even in the small world of the UN press corps, the double standards are obvious. Some media have been ejected from their UN office space for not complying with the UN's rule that space is for those who come in three days a week.

   But the New York Times has hardly been at the UN all year, and there are fliers from October stuck under its office door. Still, it's being given another office, while others are being squeezed out, as now raised by the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA.

Will those who complain be prosecuted? Watch this site.

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