Exclusive: UN's Ladsous Says South Sudan Must Take Peacekeepers from Any Country, But Morocco Is Not in African Union, Bangladesh History Recounted

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 30 -- Speaking about South Sudan, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous on December 30 said "we will not look pleasantly" if there are, "as there seem to have been, some caveats" about which countries' troops South Sudan would accept as peacekeepers.

  "There should be no objection to anyone coming in," Ladsous intoned, before telling Inner City Press, "I do not answer you, Mister." Video here.

  Inner City Press set out to find which countries South Sudan was objecting to -- which is its sovereign right, as a number of other nations' diplomats pointed out, speaking exclusively to Inner City Press about this and which countries.

  Morocco is an ally of France, Ladsous' country which he represented on the UN Security Council as Deputy Permanent Representative in 1994 during the Rwanda genocide.

  But Morocco is NOT a member of the African Union, which South Sudan is, because of the issue of Western Sahara. South Sudan recognizes Western Sahara -- and therefore has a right not to want Moroccan troops in its country.

  Although the UN sent 73 Bangladeshi peacekeepers to South Sudan from a formed police unit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudanese sources tell Inner City Press they had a problem with Bangladesh's battalions in the past, mentioning Western Equatoria around 2005, "under Jan Pronk" then envoy to Sudan and what is now South Sudan.

  The problems included allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation, statutory rape, and lack of accountability. If UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous continues to allow this -- witness the lack of updates on the alleged gang rapes by Chadian peacekeepers in MINUSMA in Mali -- why should South Sudan put up no resistance to such deployments? And so on.

  South Sudan is more than willing to take peacekeepers from, for example, "Nigeria or Zimbabwe," or Togo which like Morocco, Pakistan, Guatemala and Azerbaijan is leaving the Security Council after two years on December 31. (Inner City Press photo of Team Togo's December 30 goodbye at the stakeout, here.)

  So why, some wonder, would Ladsous be pushing back so publicly about Morocco? They call it FrancAfrique. Watch this site.

Footnote: Anyway, Morocco is slated to send 500 "UN guards" to Central African Republic, see Inner City Press' exclusive story here.

   

Child Soldiers in Sudan and Myanmar, No UN Comment on Sri Lanka, LRA on Move

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/caac1sudmysri112709.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- In South Sudan, both local officials and humanitarian groups are calling for the UN Mission in Sudan to do more to protect civilians from the Lord's Resistance Army, UN child soldier expert Radhika Coomaraswamy told the Press on November 25. She also acknowledged that the government of Myanmar continues to recruit child into its "vast" army, while declining to comment on children and armed conflict issues in her native Sri Lanka.

While in Sudan, Ms. Coomaraswamy met with the governor of Western Equatoria after she met with humanitarian groups. The latter urged that UNMIS do more to protect civilians, and that the Security Council strengthen the Mission's mandate if that is the only way to make UNMIS take these actions. The governor echoed these concerns.

After her briefing, Inner City Press asked Ms. Coomaraswamy whether the governor or the NGOs raised this concern firm. She replied that the NGOs raised it to her, so she asked the governor.

Inner City Press asked about reports that the LRA is moving into South Darfur. Ms. Coomaraswamy said that the LRA is said to be "moving up the Central African Republic" to the border with South Darfur. Video here, from Minute 35:43. Since Ms. Coomaraswamy's November 25 briefing, the Justice and Equality Movement rebels have fired back, saying she did not visit their camps, click here for that.

Later in the briefing, on non-Sudan questions, Inner City Press asked about the Than Shwe government's continued recruitment of child soldiers in Myanmar, and about the just announced moves on internally displaced persons including children in Sri Lanka's internment camps.

Ms. Coomaraswamy replied, in a seeming partial defense of Myanmar, that the recruitment takes places at the "regional" level -- every place is in a region, isn't it? -- and that if the UN gets an action plan with the military junta, it will be allowed to verify. We'll see.

On Sri Lanka, on which Inner City Press posed questions to Ms. Coomaraswamy as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, she replied that she has appointed Patrick Cammaert to go there from December 5 to 11, that he will hold a press briefing after that and answer all Sri Lanka questions. Video here, from Minute 46:57.

In the past, Ms. Coomaraswamy has at least proffered some answer to Sri Lanka questions. Ironically, by appointing Cammaert, she now defers all questions to him. But he is in UN Headquarters much less than she is. After the briefing, Inner City Press told Ms. Coomeraswamy that the test will be if Cammaert is as accessible, that is, able to be accessed, as she is. Again, we'll see after December 11. Watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press has asked UNICEF about a child soldier issue raised to it in Georgia, and has been promised an answer. While Ms. Coomaraswamy was not asked about it on November 25, one wonders how many issues are out there, from Yemen to the Philippines, and what her Office should do to make these known. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/caac1sudmysri112709.html