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On CAR
Rapes & UN,
US Samantha
Power Calls
for
Accountability
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
After
peacekeepers,
first from
France then
now from the
UN force
itself,
allegedly
raped children
in the Central
African
Republic, on
August 12 UN
Mission
chief
Babacar Gaye
was
essentially
fired; Inner
City Press has
obtained and
puts his
letter online
here.
Now after
Inner City
Press asked it
for comment,
the US Mission
to the UN has
provided this,
from
Ambassador
Samantha
Power:
"We are
horrified by
the
allegations of
rape and
killing of
civilians by
members of
MINUSCA. It
should go
without saying
that these
reports must
be
investigated
swiftly and
impartially
and that any
perpetrators
of such
atrocities
must be
punished. Blue
helmets should
do more than
just abide by
laws - they
should be
models of
protecting and
respecting
human rights.
But this
latest
allegation is
only the most
recent in a
slew of
disturbing
reports that
peacekeepers
have abused
civilians. Any
such crimes
threaten the
basic compact
between the UN
and the
vulnerable
people who are
counting on
outside
assistance --
not attacks.
"The UN
must work
relentlessly
to put in
place vetting
and
protections
that will help
prevent any
such abuses,
and it should
not rest until
all such
allegations
have been
investigated
and
perpetrators
punished.
Member states
who contribute
troops and
police to UN
missions must
ensure that
when their
nationals are
accused of
such horrific
crimes, their
national legal
systems
swiftly
investigate
the
allegations
and hold
perpetrators
accountable."
There
is to be a UN
Security
Council
meeting on the
topic on
August 13;
Inner City
Press has
asked the
Council's
president for
August for
details. More
must be done.
Watch this
site.
After
Amnesty
International
reported in
detail on the
alleged rape
on August 2 by
UN
Peacekeeping
of a 12 year
old girl in
the PK5
neighborhood
of Bangui, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
August 12
announced he
asked for a
resignation:
of Babacar
Gaye, head of
the CAR
mission and
not Herve
Ladsous, the
head of UN
Peacekeeping.
When
Ban Ki-moon
took three
questions on
August 12,
Inner City
Press between
each one
asked, What
about Ladsous?
Ban heard but
did not
answer, except
to (politely)
say as he
left, You can
ask him,
pointing at
spokesman
Staphan
Dujarric.
Inner
City Press
did, asking
several time
where is
Ladsous -- on
vacation or
"leave," it
emerges -- and
about Babacar
Gaye's letter
to Ban Ki-moon
about more
systematic
problems.
Inner City
Press obtained
Gaye's letter
and put it
online here.
We'll have
more on this.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
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