Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 01:09:14 +0200
<http://erigazette.org/?p=7921> To S. Sudan, Will Kerry Travel Next Week,
Or Only DRC, Angola & Ethiopia? Inner City Press By Matthew Russell Le
Apr 25, 2014
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By Matthew Russell LeeUNITED NATIONS, April 25,2014 — In the week of back
to back mass killings in Bentiu and Bor in South Sudan, on April 24 US
Secretary of State John Kerry said he
<https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/459405170926182400> will travel
to the country, as stateed
<http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/04/225159.htm> at an event with
Norway’s foreign minister:
FOREIGN MINISTER BRENDE: Also, our work in South Sudan is now in the top of
our agenda and the troika work there. The UN Security Council will hopefully
make clear statements on this, because it’s unacceptable what we’re seeing
of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding. So thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well said. I forgot – I’ll be there next week, as a matter
of fact.
FOREIGN MINISTER BRENDE: Me too. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: So we’ll talk about it. (Laughter.) See?
Kerry’s statement came after US President Barack Obama threatened
sanctions against not only former vice president and now opposition leader
Riek Machar’s forces but also those of president Salva Kiir.
The question arose: would Kerry meet not only Kiir but also Machar while
in Juba? US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki on April 24
<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/04/225150.htm> said there could be
more details about Kerry’s Africa trip in the next 24 to 48 hours. After
Kerry’s statement beside Norway’s Foreign Minister Borge Brende, that
timetable became 24 hours.
Inner City Press suggested that Kerry might also want to visit Burundi,
where a leaked April 3 cable about the government arming a youth wing,
published by Inner City Press
<http://www.innercitypress.com/burundi7uncableicp042414.html> on April 10,
now appears in the process of being hushed-up in the UN, click here for
that.
But on April 25, the <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/04/225186.htm>
State Department put out an itinerary listing only Ethiopia, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Angola. What does this mean?
Secretary Kerry Travels to Addis Ababa, Kinshasa and Luanda
Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Luanda, Angola, on April 29-May 5 to
encourage democratic development, promote respect for human rights, advance
peace and security, engage with civil society and young African leaders who
will shape the continent’s future, and promote trade, investment and
development partnerships in Africa.
The Secretary’s trip will also highlight U.S. investments in the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
In Addis Ababa, Secretary Kerry will co-convene the Fourth Session of the
U.S.-AU High-Level Dialogue and discuss a range of issues on which we
partner with the African Union (AU). Secretary Kerry will meet with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom to discuss
efforts to advance peace and democracy in the region, and strengthen
important areas of bilateral cooperation with Ethiopia.
In Kinshasa, Secretary Kerry will meet with President Joseph Kabila and will
discuss how the DRC government’s progress in neutralizing some of the dozens
of dangerous armed groups that victimize the Congolese people can be
consolidated and how to best advance the DRC’s democratization and long-term
stability, including through a timely and transparent electoral process.
In Luanda, Secretary Kerry will commend President José Eduardo dos Santos
for Angola’s leadership of the International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region (ICGLR) and encourage the President’s continued personal engagement
in the Great Lakes peace process. The Secretary will also discuss bilateral
policy and trade issues with Foreign Minister Chikoti.
Secretary Kerry will also be accompanied by Assistant Secretary for African
Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo Russell Feingold, Special Envoy to Sudan
and South Sudan Donald Booth, and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s
Issue Catherine Russell.
Donald Booth going on the trip might indicate an unscheduled stop in Juba
— or just, talks in Addis.
As to South Sudan, in the wake of the April 15-16 mass killing in Bentiu,
<http://unmiss.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3465&ctl=Details&mid=6047&I
temID=3628700&language=en-US> UN official Mary Cummins said ”we need the
Ghanaian contingent to come soon.”
This was troubling and strange, since it was ostensibly to ship weapons to
the Ghanaians that the UN moved trucks of weapons by road to Bentiu. Weapons
without soldiers?
So Inner City Press asked at the April 22 UN noon briefing and was
promised an answer that never arrived. At the UN Security Council stakeout
on April 23, Inner City Press put the question to UN Peacekeeping chief
Herve Ladsous who refuses Press questions. Even at the April 24 noon
briefing, when Inner City Press asked for a third time, there was no answer.
Now this belated response:
Subject: Your question on South Sudan.
From: UN Spokesperson – Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 4:51 PM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations says that, as of now, 44 members
of the Ghanaian Battalion are in Bentiu.
But that doesn’t answer about the Ghanaian Battalion’s (non) presence during
the April 15-16 killings. And shipping containers of weapons for a mere 44
members? Compare this to the
<http://www.innercitypress.com/cote1ssudan012714.html> 350 troops from
Ghana’s continent in Cote d’Ivoire that the UN told Inner City Press
<http://www.innercitypress.com/cote1ssudan012714.html> about in January,
here. We hope to have more on this.
The UN Security Council belatedly met about Bentiu on April 24.
Afterward UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations chief Herve Ladsous came
out and took three questions, curtly.
The
<http://unmiss.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3465&ctl=Details&mid=6047&I
temID=3628700&language=en-US> UN itself says that the Ghanaian battalion –
the shipment of whose weapons by land to Bentiu triggered an objection by
South Sudan’s government and a report by Ladsous’ DPKO that has yet to be
publicly released –
<http://unmiss.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3465&ctl=Details&mid=6047&I
temID=3628700&language=en-US> was not in Bentiu to even try to stop the
April 15-16 killings.
Inner City Press put this question to Ladsous both on and off UNTV’s
camera, but he refused to answer it. <http://youtu.be/AMWNKAx2xJ4> Video
here and embedded below. Criticisms of his DPKO are spreading, but Ladsous
refuses to answer them.
Back on <http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2014/db140422.doc.htm>
April 22 Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about the Ghanaian contingent:
Inner City Press: on South Sudan, I saw that Mary Cummins, who is the acting
Coordinator for Unity State, really sounded the alarm that they need more
forces there. And she said, “we need the Ghanaian battalion to arrive soon”.
I thought that was the battalion whose weapons that were found in the boxes–
Spokesman Dujarric: Let me find out.
But more than 24 hours later Dujarric, or ultimately Ladsous’ DPKO, had
not provided any answer. So Inner City Press put the question to Ladsous at
the stakeout. Ladsous refused to answer it, pointedly calling first on
<http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1117933> Reuters, then
<http://www.innercitypress.com/voa4bbgbank010814.html> Voice of America,
then on state-owned France 24.
Then Ladsous lumbered from the stakeout microphone and up the stairs, with
a retinue of DPKO staff, many of whom worked under Alain Le Roy and even
Jean-Marie Guehenno but now enable this decay within UN Peacekeeping.
From inside the closed consultation, the French mission’s spokesperson
tweeted that a film was being screened of Bentiu. This was confirmed to
Inner City Press by an actual ambassador in the meeting; at the stakeout
afterward Inner City Press asked Security Council president Joy Ogwu of
Nigeria if the film was only about Bentiu and not Bor and she said Yes, only
about Bentiu.
The April 15-16 killings in Bentiu have been attributed to the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in Opposition led by former vice
president Riek Machar, who has denied that his forces killed civilians.
Likewise, the April 18 murders inside the UN peacekeeping camp in Bor have
been attributed to supporters from the Dinka tribe of president Salva Kiir,
and statements by his information minister bear this out.
The UN has alleged that in Bentiu the victims were targeted based not only
on tribe but nationality. One response was that Darfur rebels from the
Justice and Equality Movement who were fighting along with Kiir’s government
forces were killed, but not civilians.
In this environment, for UN Peacekeeping to be run by an official who
can’t even answer basic questions is a major problem. Watch this site.
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