By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 15 -- When the UN released its final, edited human rights report on Southern Kordofan on August 15, references to inaction by UN peacekeepers had been dropped. The initial report, which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople continually derided as "leaked" and subject to editing by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, stated for example that
"29. On 8 June, an UNMIS independent contractor (IC) was pulled out of a vehicle by SAF in front of the UNMIS Kadugli Sector IV Compound in the presence of several witnesses, while UN peacekeepers could not intervene. He was taken around the corner of the compound and gunshots were heard. Later he was discovered dead by UNMIS personnel and IDPs. Several sources confirmed that the victim was an active SPLM member." (Emphasis added.)
Weeks later, when the edited version was released, this paragraph appeared with the key phrase "while UN peacekeepers could not intervene" entirely removed, as if the Egyptian UN peacekeepers had not been there:
"17. On 8 June, an UNMIS individual contractor (IC) was pulled out of a vehicle by SAF in front of the UNMIS Kadugli Sector IV compound in the presence of several witnesses. He was taken away from the vicinity of the compound and gunshots were heard. Later he was discovered dead by UNMIS personnel and IDPs. Several sources confirmed that the victim was an active SPLM member."
There are other difference betwen the original and edited reports. But how can the UN justify airbrushing out the presence of its inactive peacekeepers? Inner City Press asked the Anglical Bishop of Kadugli about the peacekeepers, and he said the Egyptian troops were not impartial, were close to Khartoum and did nothing. Now the UN system airbrushes it out.
Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice last week about the UN's withholding and editing of its report and she replied:
"On Kordofan, let me just say-yes, we're looking forward to the release of the report that we requested back in June. We think that it's important for the United Nations-whether it's through its dwindling presence on the ground or through the human rights agencies and authorities-to give us, the member states, as clear a picture as they can of the unfolding humanitarian circumstances in Southern Kordafan, and to provide insight and investigate the allegations of abuses."
Now on the UN's airbrushing out of its own inaction and complicity, what will the US, France, UK, South Sudan, other member states and even NGOs do? Watch this site.