By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 24,
updated -- In
July after UN
peacekeepers
stood by -- or
reportedly
helped -- as
seven
internally
displaced
people were
killed
in the Niably
IDP camp in
Cote d'Ivoire,
when Inner
City Press
asked
it was told
there would be
an
investigation.
But
two days
later, UN
Peacekeeping's
top envoy to
Cote d'Ivoire
Bert
Koenders
"dismissed
allegations
that
peacekeepers
failed in
their mandate
to protect
civilians."
Inner
City Press has
continued to
ask about it,
but UN
Peacekeeping
chief
now refuses to
answer any
Press
questions,
saying it is
in response
to "insulting
insinuations."
Such as a
failure to
protect
civilians, or
to honestly
investigate
failures?
On
October 24,
Inner City
Press put the
question to
the UN's
Special
Rapporteur on
IDPs Mr.
Chaloka
Beyani, who
had visited
Cote d'Ivoire,
two days
before the
killings at
Niambly as it
turns out.
Beyani
recounted that
"the Moroccan
peacekeepers
were there...
By seven
AM the camp
was
surrounded...
Youths in
their
thousands
overran the
camp, n the
presence of
the
peacekeepers."
In
conducting his
own inquiry,
Beyani said,
"I asked the
peacekeepers
why they
didn't act.
They said that
they have to
take a
balance,
whether acting
would cause
more harm.
They felt more
would
have been
killed if they
had acted with
force."
He continued,
"Second, they
were
manning the
entry, they
would have
been overrun.
The commander
to
make sure
preserve lives
of men to
continue to
provide
protection."
So
far, it was
sounding like
something of
an Ivorian
Srebrenica, at
least to some.
But then the
real reason
became clear.
Beyani said
that the
"rules of
engagement of
UN
peacekeeping
forces do not
allow them
open fire
civilians if
civilians are
attacking
other
civilians."
These
"civilians"
killed seven
people, but
the UN
peacekeepers
"wouldn't get
involved."
Beyani said he
has heard the
same
from UN
missions in
Afghanistan
and South
Sudan.
This
seems like a
major problem,
calling into
question
Koenders
"dismiss[ing]
allegations
that
peacekeepers
failed in
their
mandate to
protect
civilians" and
Ladsous'
refusing to
answer
questions.
Inner
City Press
went to the
October 24
noon briefing
and asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City Press: at
11 a.m., there
was a press
conference
here by UN
Special
Rapporteur on
IDPs Chaloka
Beyani, and I
asked him
about
this incident
that happened
in Côte
d'Ivoire in
July in which
an IDP
camp was
burned down
and at least
seven of its
residents were
killed.
Mr. Beyani
said that DPKO
[Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations],
not only in
Côte
d'Ivoire, but
elsewhere, has
rules of
engagement
for its
peacekeepers
that they
can’t fire
upon
civilians,
even if
civilians are
killing other
civilians. So
I wanted a
response, from
the UN, if
that’s true,
and also, he
said that
there is a UN
investigation
ongoing which,
given Mr.
Koenders’
statement
dismissing the
allegation
seems strange,
but is there
an
investigation
ongoing, and
is it a
correct
statement of
DPKO policy
that was given
here this
morning?
Spokesperson:
I’ll check,
Matthew.
Six
hours later,
no answer had
yet been
given. Is it
appropriate
for the
head of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Ladsous,
to openly
refuse to
answer
Press
questions like
this? Is the
stated policy
in place, and
is it
responsible?
Watch this
site?
Update of October 25: at the following day's noon briefing the UN spokesman read out a statement including that there IS an ongoing investigation of the July events -- will it be made public? -- and denying what the Special Rapporteur said about UN Peacekeeping's rules of engagement. We'd expect to have more on this. In the same noon briefing, it was emphasized that UN Special Rapporteurs are NOT "UN officials."
