By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- After one UNISFA peacekeeper was killed in Abyei, along with paramount chief Kuol Deng Kuol, Inner City Press asked both UN Peacekeeping paramount chief Herve Ladsous, and UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky if UNISFA had provided notification of its travel.
Ladsous refused to answer (a pattern, video here); Nesirky's office three hours after the noon briefing provided this:
Subject: Your questions on Abyei
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 6, 2013 at 3:19 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 6, 2013 at 3:19 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Regarding your questions on Abyei: UNISFA says that a Misseriya youth shot the Ngok Dinka Paramount Chief and one Ethiopian peacekeeper first. In the exchange of fire which followed, three Ethiopian peacekeepers were injured. UNISFA does not have confirmation about Misseriya casualties.
It's appreciated, and answers the question of who the UN says fired first. But it does NOT answer the question Inner City Press asked at noon, and Ladsous. Here's that, and some other questions:
Again,did the UNISFA commander fail to get the permission necessary for travel in this area as described in a statement by the Sudan Ministry of the Interior?
Did the UNISFA commander provide adequate security to the Ngok civilians, given the known dispositions of armed groups in that area? With 4,000 peacekeepers in the area, how many were in the accompanying escort?
Was the travel to Defra necessary, if the earlier meeting in Abyei town had finished and the Sudanese delegation had returned to Khartoum?
Who set up the travel to Defra? Is it true as some say that the assailants knew exactly who was in which vehicle, and called for them by name to be produced?
Did the incident result in the deaths of Misseriya tribesmen as reported in Sudanese media but not elsewhere?
When can a detailed statement be expected? And why won't Ladsous answer Press questions, as Alain Le Roy and Jean-Marie Guehenno did, in the context of also critical and investigative coverage?
Meanwhile, Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN and received back the following from Mission spokesperson Iona Thomas:
In response to your questions on Sudan, the UK has issued statements both about the rebel attacks on villages and on the killing of the Paramount Chief in Abyei. I understand that the attack in Abyei will be discussed under Any Other Business today [a Press Statement issued]
