After Abyei Killings, South Sudan Says UN Peacekeping Doesn't Protect Civilians from Misseriya: #Ladsous2013

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 -- Following the May 4 killing of a UN peacekeeper and the Ngok Dinka paramount chief Kuol Deng Kuol, UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous refused to answer Inner City Press questions about the attack.

  On May 9, Inner City Press put three questions to South Sudan's ambassador to the UN Francis Deng -- the older brother of Kuol Deng Kuol -- about the attack and murder of his brother.

  Why doesn't UN Peacekeeping's UNISFA mission do a better job of protecting civilians in Abyei, particularly from the Misseriya?

  Deng said that although the mandate adopted by the Security Council should permit such protection -- he cited the Rwanda genocide -- UN Peacekeeping is not interpreting it that way. He said the UN Peacekeeping mission does not have credibility, leading to the Misseriya laying siege to a convoy with the Ngok Dinka chief inside.

  This same issue arose in Cote d'Ivoire, where UN Peacekeepers stood by as perceived Laurent Gbagbo supporters in the Nahibly camp for internally displaced people were killed and the camp burned down. A UN special rapporteur told Inner City Press the peacekeepers said they were not to engage with non state actors.

  Ladsous' DPKO denied it, then continued to repeatedly refuse Press questions -- and now this.

  Deng and South Sudan are calling for an investigation. But can the UN, particularly Ladsous' DPKO, investigate itself?

I nner City Press asked Deng of reports that Misseriya chief Bobo Nimir blaming UNISFA and consulting with South Kordofan government Ahmed Haroun, who is indicted by the International Criminal Court. 

  Deng replied that Bobo Nimir fils has previously acknowledge the existence of Dinka land, and so now may just be channeling Sudan government statements.

  Sudan, meanwhile, is increasingly angry about the Security Council's failure to condemn in a press statement the attacks on Umm Rawaba and Abu Karshola.

Inner City Press is told of a new draft resolution on UNISFA, on which the United States has the pen.

  Meanwhile, after Ladsous' refusal to answer Inner City Press' questions on Abyei, this was finally sent by Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office:

Subject: On Abyei.
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Thu, May 9, 2013 at 1:10 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

In response to your questions on the recent attack in Abyei:

The UN mission in the area will begin an investigation into the attack as soon as the security situation allows.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations is confident that its peacekeepers responded robustly to the incident.

The visit to the Diffra area was made at the rest of Ngok Dinka representatives who wanted to visit returnee locations.

   But is Ladsous' DPKO "robust" in protecting civilians from the Misseriya (or mobs in Cote d'Ivoire)? Watch this site.

On N. Kordofan Attack, Susan Rice Tells ICP that UNSC Statement May Be Unlikely, No Member Request

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- After the war in Southern Kordofan was expanded to Umm Rawaba in North Kordofan, Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman told Inner City Press he had written to the UN Security Council asking them to condemn the attack.

  On Wednesday Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice about it. She stopped and said, with some sarcasm, "Like we've had so many statements recently." The Council had been preparing a Presidential Statement when Sudan and South Sudan reached the Matrix of Implementation of their agreements.

  Russia proposed a minimalist press statement congratulating the parties; the US position was that more of the narrative and outstanding issues should be included. And so, as often happens on Syria as well, no statement at all. And this time?

  On April 29, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman raised the attack on Umm Rawaba in North Kordofan to the Council, and asked for sanctions on the rebels. 

  Afterward Inner City Press asked UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant what he thought. He said the UK would not in principle oppose sanctions on some rebels, but the relative balance with what the government has been doing would have to be taken into account.

  Meanwhile at Wednesday's UN noon briefing Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky if the UNMISS mission in South Sudan agreed with the government in Juba that the recent deadly attack on UN peacekeepers was by the David Yau Yau rebels.

  Inner City Press also asked if Ban's envoy Hilde Johnson had spoken with the government about their amnesty offer to rebels, including the Yau Yau rebels.

  One might have thought the UN would have said, including publicly, that amnesty could NOT cover the killing of peacekeepers. But there was no immediate answer. Watch this site.