By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- Following the death of three Ethiopian peacekeepers in Abyei while awaiting evacuation by UN medical helicopter, which UN official Alain Le Roy told the Press Sudan threatened to shoot at, more details emerged Thursday night.
UK Permanent Representative to the UN Mark Lyall Grant told Inner City Press that "the four guys got hit by this landmine, one of them them died instantly. The UN asked for permission for helicopter to come from Wau to pick up the injured. The Sudanese government said they couldn't come from Wau because that was a different country."
Since the independence of South Sudan on July 9, Khartoum has moved toward currency wars and now, the blocking of medical evacuation which the UN only belatedly and partially acknowledged.
Lyall Grant to his credit continued, "So they said can we bring a helicopter from Kadugli. It took about three hours or so to get that permission, by the time they picked them up and took them back, it was too late."
Le Roy told the Press that the Sudanese government "prevented us to take off... by threatening to shoot at the helicopter." Video here, from Minute 46:56. Audio here, from Minute 46:53.
Le Roy said that while the UN had yet to sign a Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA with the Khartoum government for the UNISFA mission in Abyei, the old SOFA of the expired UN Mission in Sudan was still in place.
But Lyall Grant told Inner City Press, "it is an example of, until there is a SOFA, these things are going to happen all the time. Because a SOFA would cover that, would allow them to fly without permission, etcetera."
On August 3, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky would not answer Inner City Press' question regarding if the UN had signed a SOFA with Khartoum for UNISFA in Abyei. He said he would check, but did not provide an answer.
Meanwhile a Sudanese diplomat in New York told Inner City Press, credibly or not, that the blame for the lack of a SOFA was on the UN, for not quickly selecting who would negotiate for the UN, a person sent from UNAMID in Darfur or another.
Lyall Grant told Inner City Press that due to concerns, the head of the UN's Department of Field Support "Susana Malcorra has done to Addis, for tripartite meetings with the Ethiopians and Sudanese."
