As
US
Urges SC
Action on S.
Kordofan
Report, No
Mention of
Airbrush by
Pillay
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 16, updated
-- A
day after the
UN
released its
Southern
Kordofan
report,
delayed it
seems in order
to remove
sections
including
about Egyptian
UN
peacekeepers'
inaction,
discussion was
underway about
how the
Security
Council should
deal with the
report.
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay,
officially the
releaser of
the report
after edits by
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
will brief
the Council on
August 18, but
for now only
on Syria.
Inner
City Press
on August 16
asked a
well-placed
Council source
if Pillay will
also
brief about
Southern
Kordofan.
That's already
been
requested, the
source said,
adding that
Pillay will be
in New York
longer than at
first thought,
so a Kordofan
report
briefing may
be possible on
a day
other than
August 18.
The
source added
with a roll of
the eyes, a
lot of these
briefings are
useless, we'd
oppose them if
we could. The
reference may
have been to
the
Council's
contested and
contentious
Syria
briefings, and
not to
Kordofan.
Ban &
Pillay &
Deputy Kang,
explanation of
Kordofan
report edits
not shown
The
initial
report, put
online by
Inner City
Press, stated
for example
that
"29.
On
8 June, an
UNMIS
independent
contractor
(IC) was
pulled out of
a
vehicle by SAF
in front of
the UNMIS
Kadugli Sector
IV Compound in
the presence
of several
witnesses,
while UN
peacekeepers
could
not intervene.
He was taken
around the
corner of the
compound
and gunshots
were heard.
Later he was
discovered
dead by UNMIS
personnel and
IDPs. Several
sources
confirmed that
the victim was
an
active SPLM
member."
(Emphasis
added.)
When the
edited
version
was released,
this paragraph
appeared with
the key phrase
"while UN
peacekeepers
could not
intervene"
entirely
removed, as if
the Egyptian
UN
peacekeepers
had not been
there:
"17.
On
8 June, an
UNMIS
individual
contractor
(IC) was
pulled out of
a
vehicle by SAF
in front of
the UNMIS
Kadugli Sector
IV compound in
the presence
of several
witnesses. He
was taken away
from the
vicinity of
the compound
and gunshots
were heard.
Later he was
discovered
dead by UNMIS
personnel and
IDPs. Several
sources
confirmed that
the victim was
an active SPLM
member."
There are
other
difference
between the
original and
edited
reports. But
how would
Pillay justify
airbrushing
out the
presence of
inactive UN
peacekeepers?
How would the
June 8
incident
above, for
example, be
re-cast?
(On August 15
at
the UN noon
briefing Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
acting
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq,
click here for
that exchange.
The UN held no
noon briefing
on August 16.)
Susan
Rice and Ban:
will an
explanation of
the airbrush
be asked &
given?
Later
on August 16
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice issued a statement urging other
Council
members
to "join us in
pressing for
implementation
of [the
report's]
recommendations."
None
of these
recommendations
are directed
at the UN
Secretariat,
or at the
Council, as
for example
human rights
group's
reports do.
Nor
did Rice's
August 16
statement
mention the
airbrushing
out from the
report of the
inaction of
Egyptian UN
peacekeepers
in Kadugli. On
August
15 on the
Colbert
Report, Rice
insisted
that the "blue
helmets"
protect
civilians in
conflict and
aid workers,
saying they're
"good guys"
just like
UNICEF.
Updated
with
transcript:
Colbert:
It’s
important to
keep those two
separated when
you talk about
the
UN. There’s
the blue
helmet thugs
who take away
our guns, and
there’s
UNICEF, who
helps the
children.
Rice: The
blue
helmet guys
are protecting
the people who
are the
victims of
conflict
and protecting
those that are
delivering the
assistance in
many parts
of the world.
So they’re
good guys too.
How
about
Srebrenica?
Rwanda? And
now
Abyei
and even more
so Kadugli in
Southern
Kordofan?
It's
good to offer
praise where
it's due, but
equally or
more important
to not
airbrush out
negligence or
worse by those
who are
ostensibly
supposed to
help. Watch
this site.
, 
