By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 8 -- After the bleed-out death of three UN peacekeepers in Abyei and US Ambassador Susan Rice saying as her "personal opinion" that the UN should have flown a medevac helicopter in from South Sudan even without permission, Inner City Press asked outgoing UN Peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy to respond.
"Before giving a full answer I have to brainstorm," said Le Roy, who is leaving UN service on August 10. "A decision to take that kind of risk, we have to brainstorm with our people."
Inner City Press asked Le Roy if tomorrow, if a peacekeeper needs medevac, the UN will fly in from Wau in South Sudan. "We cannot," Le Roy answered. So what's to brainstorm?
It was Le Roy's final briefing of the Council after three years atop the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
As he went up the stairs from the Security Council, Le Roy chided Inner City Press for not having devoted "one percent" to praise of DPKO.
We'll do so -- but it's because the Security Council, even the Permanent members, don't do oversight of DKPO, and because the UN and DPKO don't even go outside to engage with protesters like those in front of the UN on August 5 asking reparations for the introduction of cholera to Haiti, or who stoned DPKO's Roger Meece in the Congo last month, that the Press focuses on oversight and not praise.
That said, we don't dispute Le Roy's statement that if one called the President of Liberia she would praise DPKO. For now for our 1% -- and to futher explain why oversight is what's need -- we'll link to the UN's own self-coverage / propaganda about its good works there. Actually, even the UN News Service has not covered Liberia in the past 45 days. But we note that there are peacekeepers who, indeed, share their rations with those they are sent to protect.
Le Roy said that in his final briefing of the Council, all fifteen members praised his three years. So we'll report that. But see above. And... watch this site.
