UNITED
NATIONS, May
29 -- In Abyei
after the Ngok
Dinka
paramount
chief was
killed by the
Misseriya,
along with a
UN peacekeeper
from the
UNISFA
mission, South
Sudan
Ambassador
Francis Deng
told Inner
City Press
that the
UN wasn't
implementing
its protection
of civilians
mandate.
Deng,
a former UN
official and
also the
brother of the
paramount
chief,
told Inner
City Press
that the
UNISFA force
commander told
him that
it was his
understanding
the mandate
concerned
protecting
civilians
from the
Sudanese Army,
not from non
state actors
like the
Misseriya
nomads.
Inner
City Press
repeatedly
asked the UN
about this,
but has run
into
difficulties
because the
head of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
outright
refuses to
answer its
questions. (On
May 29 he
refused
again,
concerning the
135 rapes in
Minova in
November 2012
by 41st
and 391st
Battalions of
the Congolese
Army, with
which the UN
continues to
work; video
here).
After
the UN
Security
Council on
Wednesday
adopted a
US-drafted
resolution
extended the
mandate of
UNISFA, click
here for the
text of the
resolution
put online by
Inner City
Press just
after the
vote, Inner
City Press
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about Deng's
comments and
the UN's
mandate.
In
a longer
answer
transcribed by
the US
Mission,
Ambassador
Rice said
that "We
discussed in
our
consultations
on the topic
of UNIFSA a
couple weeks
ago the
question of
whether there
was any
ambiguity in
the mandate
about the
nature and
scope of the
protection of
civilians
requirement.
The
Secretariat
affirmed that
it is their
understanding
and, indeed,
it is clear to
UNIFSA that
indeed
protection of
civilians
means
protection of
civilians
against a
threat from
wherever it
may
materialize."
The
Secretariat
means Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
While Ameerah
Haq of the UN
Department of
Field Support
gave a long,
suprisingly
candid answer
to Inner City
Press'
questions
about the
use of "soft
skin" vehicles
by the UN
Mission in
South
Sudan,
including in
an incident in
which five
Indian
peacekeepers
were killed in
Jonglei State,
the military
mandate and
rules of
engagement
question
should be
answered by
Herve Ladsous.
But when?
After
Ambassador
Rice left the
stakeout, and
much of the
press corps
also
left to go
hear Ladsous,
Inner City
Press stayed
and asked
Sudanese
Ambassador
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman a
question it
also asked
Rice:
are Chadian
forces inside
Sudan, chasing
rebels from
the Justice
and
Equality
Movement
through Darfur
into Southern
Kordofan?
Sudan's
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman said no,
Chad is a
"friendly
country"
but Sudan's
army can take
care of its
business (as
it perceives
it).
He criticized
"a few Council
members" for
blocking any
statement on
rebel abuses
in Abu
Karshola. And
he told Inner
City
Press that the
US'
blocking of
the Islamic
African Relief
Association
in the UN's
NGO Committee
was because of
the group's
name. We'll
see.
, 
