Ban's Man Dodges ONUCI Sex Abuse Questions, Zero Said on Zero Tolerance

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1onuci060908.html

IVORY COAST, June 9 -- A scandal of sexual abuse within the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, ONUCI, became public on May 27, and at UN headquarters Assistant Secretary General Jane Holl Lute answered Inner City Press that the report would be taken very seriously, particularly because it alleged that the senior leadership of UNUCI was told of the abuse and did nothing.

On May 30, Burkina-Faso's Ambassador to the UN Michel Kafando, on the eve of leaving on a Security Council trip to Africa during which he would lead the Cote d'Ivoire leg, answered Inner City Press that the issue of sexual abuse would be raised in the Council's meeting in the country with all senior leadership, which includes Choi Young-Jin of UNOCI and even President Gbagbo.

On June 9 at a press conference in Abidjan after Choi, Kafando and other six other Security Council representatives met Gbagbo, Inner City Press asked about the sexual abuse report, and what was being done about it. Amb. Kafando referred the question to Mr. Choi. It seemed like, with the build-up, an answer would be forthcoming, on the less than two week old report, as well as on the earlier repatriation of an entire battalion of UN peacekeepers back to Morocco after allegations of systematic sexual abuse and exploitation of under-aged girls.

But Mr. Choi's answer was that on May 30 he had held a press conference about the May 27 report, and that he would be happy to share a copy of his opening statement. That was it. Afterwards, as the Ambassadors rushed to the airport to fly back to New York, ONUCI's spokespeople were not around. An Inner City Press source in ONUCI who was present at Choi's May 30 press conference recounted that all he'd said that is that they were "old allegations" and that they were under investigation. This does not appear to be the type of take-charge, zero-tolerance leadership that Jane Holl Lute has promised. The question, it was implied, should simply not have been asked. But of course it was going to be asked. Jane Holl Lute said the issue of ONUCI senior leadership's role is an important one that will be inquired into, and Amb. Kafando said the issue would be discussed in the meetings in Abidjan, in which Mr. Choi took part. So why no answer?

Even Mr. Choi's equivalent in the Congo, Alan Doss, publicly answered a public question in Kinshasa about allegations that peacekeepers traded guns for gold with militias. He said how it was being investigated, he discussed publicly the specifics of the allegations, and which part had already been found to be true. While Mr. Choi is to his credit said to be a very hard worker, responding to public questions about ONUCI would appear to be part of the job. Perhaps, a ONUCI source suggested, since Mr. Choi is so close with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and now with Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo, he feels no need to be politically correct. Time will tell.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1onuci060908.html