With
UN
Peacekeepers Accused of Rape in Sudan, UN Women & Ban Ki-Moon
Adviser Won't Answer, Other Priorities
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 14 -- With UN peacekeepers accused of at least six
rapes in Southern Kordofan in Sudan, what has the UN system done? So
far, nothing.
Inner City Press asked
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Martin Nesirky about the accusation, by former
deputy
governor of Southern Kordofan, on June 13. Nesirky responded about
a
different matter -- the UN abandoning a national staff member -- then
moved on to other questions.
After
asking
Nesirky a second time on June 14 to no avail, Inner City Press asked
the head of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, and Ban's Special
Representative of Sexual Violence Margot Wallstrom, what their
offices are doing about the
allegation by
former
deputy governor al-Hilu's spokesman that “the Egyptian
contingency in the area of raping six women. He said the incident
took place after civilians fleeing the fighting took shelter at the
headquarters of the peacekeeping force.”
Wallstrom's
office
e-mailed back that it is up to the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations: "This is for DPKO to answer." Ms. Wallstrom herself,
according to her Twitter account
and confirmed by DPKO, is in her native Sweden. She has tweeted about
TV appearances there.
UN
Women did not
respond directly to Inner City Press. Rather, Inner City Pres is
informed, Ms. Bachelet contacted DPKO chief Alain Le Roy. This
resulted not in any answer to the question, but rather a criticism of
Inner City Press' way of asking questions.
Apparently,
DPKO
is too busy to investigate the allegation by a major Kordofan
official that its peacekeepers raped civilians inside the UN
compound. A phrase was used -- we have bigger priorities right now --
which militated for this interim article, along with the idea that
the UN only has to investigate if a formal complaint is made to it.
What
bigger
priorities could the UN and its Peacekeeping Department have than
ensure that its own peacekeepers are not committing rape of the
civilians they were sent to protect?
How
can the UN
Office on Sexual Violence and Conflict not have a responsibility
on these matters? Or UN Women? Watch this site.
Ban, Wallstrom & staff, answers on UNMIS rape
allegations not shown
From
the
UN's
June 14, 2011 noon briefing transcript:
Inner
City
Press: I am sorry to do this, but it seemed kind of serious,
what happened in Kadugli, the former Deputy Governor, Al-Hilu,
through his spokesman has accused the Egyptian contingent in the area
of raping six women. He said the incident took place after civilians
fleeing the fighting took shelter at the headquarters of the
peacekeeping force. I don’t know if it’s true, but it seems like
it’s a pretty serious allegation, and I just wanted to know…
Spokesperson:
You mentioned that yesterday, and I really don’t have anything on
that topic. If I did, I would certainly have mentioned it today. I
do not have anything on that.
Inner
City
Press: I just wanted to know, what is the protocol in the UN
system if this type of an allegation is made? Does Ms. [Margot]
Wallström’s office get involved? What does it do? It just seems
like it’s something that needs to be addressed.
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Any allegation in general terms, any allegation of a
serious nature like that would be looked into, of course. And as you
know, our peacekeeping operations have a really strict,
zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse of any kind. And so any
allegation that is going in that direction would need to be looked
into very carefully, but I don’t have anything specific on the
particular allegation that you have mentioned.
Question:
Okay. Do you think it is something on which there will be, one way
or another, the UN will say publicly either they looked into it and
it’s not true or it’s true?
Spokesperson:
Well, I have just said that I…
Correspondent:
No, you didn’t.
Spokesperson:
I beg your pardon? What did you just say, Matthew?
Question:
I thought you said you didn’t have anything, so I just wanted to
know, will you eventually have something on this topic?
Spokesperson:
Look, if you wish to make underhand comments while I am trying to
give an answer, maybe it’s better to do that outside the briefing
room, and not in the briefing room on camera, okay? The point I was
trying to make is that, whenever there are serious allegations made,
they should be looked into. If I have any particular guidance on
this particular allegation that’s been made, then I would tell you,
okay?
What
Inner City
Press was saying was that the spokesman comment two days in a row
that he'll say something if he has something implies that this
serious allegation could just go away, be forgotten.
In Darfur, a
detailed allegation of the murder of 13 named people has yet to be
confirmed or denied with a $1 billion UN peacekeeping mission there.
Also from the
UN's June 14 transcript:
Inner
City
Press: Two questions on Darfur. One is, in Nepal, 34 police
officers have been ordered to answer charges of embezzling from UN
peacekeeping funds for these defective vehicles that were sent to the
UNAMID. What’s the UN… What’s DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping
Operations] say about this now formalized charge in Nepal?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, we are obviously aware of that, and this is a good
example of where a sovereign country, a troop-contributing country,
follows through on allegations that have been made. And that’s the
way that it should happen: that if a credible allegation is made,
that the country from where the troops come should look into it and
take action if necessary. And that’s what is happening in this
case.
Inner
City
Press: And I also wanted to ask, on this issue of that in June,
1 June, the allegation that 13 Zarghawas were killed by the Sudanese
Government. I understand that, I guess the answer is that UNAMID is
looking into it, but given that this was 1 June…
Spokesperson:
That was the answer we got, I think, yeah.
Inner
City
Press: Yeah, it’s 1 June it’s now 14. I guess, I wondered —
and I’d like just… I am not going to mutter, I’ll say it as
clearly as I can — how can it be that a $1 billion peacekeeping
mission in two weeks can’t come up with some answer about a serious
allegation like that?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Because they’re still looking into it, I should think.
In
the case of the
UN peacekeepers accused of rape, they are still there. How long is
acceptable for the UN to take to investigate such charges? Despite
its lofty statements, what other priorities does the UN have? A
major Mission to the UN has also been asked. Watch this site.
* * *
Sudan
Meeting
of Security Council Postponed Amid Addis Ababa Confusion, S. Kordofan
Pull Out UNcommented On
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 13 -- The UN Security Council postponed its June 10
meeting about Sudan and Abyei to the afternoon of June 13, in order
to watch the weekend
meetings in Addis Ababa between Khartoum's Omar
al Bashir and Juba's Salva Kiir. But then the June 13 meeting was
also postponed.
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice tweeted, “UN Security Council watching closely ongoing
negotiations on Sudan in Addis. We will meet when we can assess the
outcome... SAF must immediately end fighting and abuses in Kadugli
and withdraw unconditionally from Abyei.”
Wire
services
were already reporting an agreement on Abyei, for the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) to withdraw and Ethiopian peacekeepers to go in. But
sources in Addis were saying it wasn't really done, that conditions
were being set.
The
stated
purpose of the open Security Council meeting postponed from Monday
was to have each Council member publicly make clear their position.
But what about their positions on the UN's own performance?
Inner
City Press replied to @AmbassadorRice, “The only withdrawing seems
to be by UN from Kadugli. What does the US Mission to the UN think of
UNMIS performance there?” So far there's been no answer.
Susan Rice & French DPR in Rajaf, action on UN
Kadugli pull out not shown
Here
was the
question as put to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin
Nesirky on Monday at noon:
Inner
City
Press: can you confirm that UN staff are being pulled out of
South Kordofan? And do you have any response to the allegations by
their top SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] official in
South Kordofan, Al-Hilu, and his spokesmen that Egyptian peacekeepers
committed rape in South Sudan and that they turned over people to the
Sudanese Armed Forces who were later killed?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, on that very last point, allegations that UNMIS has
abandoned — there were reports that we’ve seen refer to one
national staff member and allegations about the UN Mission in Sudan
having abandoned a national staff member who was killed, are simply
completely false and baseless. The Mission will continue to provide
all the protection needed to all the staff, regardless of their
ethnic, religious or political affiliations. And just to be clear,
UNMIS is not evacuating its personnel from Kadugli. However, the
Mission started relocating civilian staff as of today to Khartoum,
including nationals, because they can’t operate in the current
circumstances. And an UNMIS convoy under the escort of Egyptian
peacekeepers was able to reach El-Obeid with its nonessential
international staff. And also, I can tell you that the Mission has
extracted the majority of its national staff from town, and they are
now safe in the Mission compound receiving the necessary assistance.
Question:
No, no, and thanks for that. I was saying, in this Sudan Tribune,
certainly over the weekend, maybe even as much as 24 hours ago, there
are these
quotes by Al-Hilu, who is the one who ran against Ahmed
Haroun --
Spokesperson:
I heard what you said, and what I have responded is the answer that
I have. Okay?
Question:
But they seem to be alleging different things?
Spokesperson:
Well, as I have said, we sought to have guidance from the UN Mission
in Sudan, and they have given as very clear guidance on what is
actually happening.
Question:
And one more thing on Sudan, there is… the SPLM
has said that the
territory of South Sudan has been bombed from the air by Khartoum
using Antonov aircraft; Jau in Unity State. Is that something that
UNMIS has been able to verify or deny?
Spokesperson:
Well, it wouldn’t be for us to deny, I think. But to try to
verify is another matter. I don’t have anything on that at the
moment, but we’re certainly aware of the reports. If my colleagues
have anything further, I am sure that we would be able to provide
that.
More
than four
hours later, no information had been provided. Watch this site.
, 
