Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1abyei061808.html
UNITED NATIONS, June 18, updated June 19 -- Inaction by UN Mission in Sudan peacekeepers while the town of Abyei was being burned down has resulted in belated fight-back from UNMIS chief Ashraf Qazi. On Tuesday, U.S. envoy for Sudan Richard Williamson said that despite having a mandate under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which allows the use of force, UN peacekeepers in Abyei stayed inside their compound while houses were being burned down and looted a mere 25 feet away. Qazi, in a statement issued Wednesday from Khartoum, wrote "I am sure the statements attributed to Mr. Williamson's views do not reflect the position of the U.S. Government. In the aftermath of the Abyei crisis, I have had the privilege of meeting U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Wolf during the recent visit of the Security Council to the Sudan."
Leaving aside that Alejandro Wolff's name has two F's, and the the statements were attributed to Williamson, not to his view -- they were his views -- on the central issue of UNMIS' mandate, Qazi is adopting a troublingly Rwanda-like reading. The UNMIS resolution states that
"Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, UNMIS is authorized to take the necessary action, in the areas of deployment of its forces, and as it deems within its capabilities, to protect United Nations personnel and to ensure their security and freedom of movement, as well as, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Sudanese Government, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence."
In Abyei, by all accounts, civilians were under imminent threat of violence.
Qazi adds a qualification that is not in the resolution, that
" whenever, despite our peace keeping efforts, large scale hostilities break out between the two parties, UNMIS has neither the capacity nor the mandate to militarily intervene or to provide law enforcement functions, which are the responsibility of the Government."
But what about protecting civilians? Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Michele Montas for the view of Ban Ki-moon's outgoing chief of peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno. Video here, from Minute 17:32. Ms. Montas said, you are free to ask Mr. Guehenno's department. In response to an email, Guehenno's spokesman Nick Birnback told Inner City Press:
"As we always do after such incidents, we are reviewing the Abyei incident. Together with UNMIS we will draw lessons and ensure the mission continues to implement all aspects of its mandate productively, so as to assist the parties in advancing the CPA. Currently UNMIS is actively supporting the implementation of the agreement reached by the parties on 8 June, in particular concerning the deployment of the Joint Integrated Units (SAF/SPLA) which began this morning (18 June)."
This differs from the combative defense of inaction issued by Ashraf Qazi. The upbeat conclusion of the response, reflected here, needs to be followed and will be. Watch this site.
Footnote: there is talk of Zambian peacekeepers in Abyei actively ejecting civilians and locking themselves in, "hear no evil, see no evil." There are echoes of Rwanda. And in the hall outside the Security Council on Wednesday morning, there was Rwanda's affable UN Ambassador, who told Inner City Press that the UN has to get harder and more serious on the Hutu FDLR rebels who are still in the Congo. The head of the UN mission in the Congo, Alan Doss, recently said the drones would help his work. Inner City Press has asked UN Peacekeeping if they are formally requesting such drones, and if also on drones they are monitoring and can confirm or deny Abkhazia's charge that Georgia is still flying them over the Kodori Gorge. Answers have been promised to both questions, watch this site.
Update: we now have responses on both of our questions to Peacekeeping about drones:
DR Congo envoy "Doss has indicated that if MONUC was tasked to carry out additional tasks the Mission would need additional enablers and capability and possibly additional specialized forces. These additional assets could, conceivably, include unmanned aerial vehicles."
In Abkhazia, "UNOMIG has limited capacity to monitor airspace over the zone of conflict. There have been reports of some UAV overflights over the Kodori valley which UNOMIG could not confirm. It however followed up on those reports with the Georgians who have denied any are flying there."
and see, www.innercitypress.com/un1abyei061808.html
