Thousands killed and abused in South Sudan says United Nations

THOUSANDS KILLED AND ABUSED IN SOUTH SUDAN SAYS UNITED NATIONS

United Nations peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday that Politically fueled ethnic violence in South Sudan since the mid of December has led to the brutal killing and abuse of thousands of civilians and sparked a government campaign to vilify the United Nations and harass United Nations personnel.

Herve Ladsous told the U.N. Security Council that despite a January 23^rd  cease fire agreement, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel soldiers loyal to dismissed former vice president Riek Machar “continue to prioritize the pursuit of military gains over talks towards a comprehensive political settlement.”

Fighting that broke out Dec. 15 among presidential guards in the capital Juba quickly spread across the country and took on ethnic dimensions between the dominant Dinka tribe who support Kiir and the Nuer tribe loyal to Machar.

“Political polarization that has been caused by the conflict now affects the lives of every single person in South Sudan as well the operations of the government and country as a whole,” Ladsous said.

He said preliminary inquiry reports indicate that atrocities and very severe human rights violations were committed by both sides in the conflict, and he warned that the longer the fighting goes on “the more chances for further regional intervention will grow.”

Ladsous also warned that there will be no “meaningful progress” in talks organized by the regional group IGAD to resolve the crisis until the opposition’s key demand for the release of four remaining political detainees is resolved. The four went on trial for treason on March 11.

Ladsous urged the Security Council to condemn the campaign against the U.N. peacekeeping mission which is sheltering 75,000 of approximately 800,000 people displaced by the ongoing violence and to demand that Kiir condemn it and instruct government officials and his party to stop it.

The anti-U.N. campaign has brought the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid “almost to a standstill,” which is extremely critical as the rainy season will begin soon, he said.

“The security and humanitarian situation in South Sudan will continue to deteriorate until the parties fully engage in the political talks, respect the cessation of hostilities and allow freedom of movement for the United Nations and its partners,” he said.

Ladsous said the negative campaign against the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNMISS by some local and national officials has included public demonstrations, media articles, and harassment of U.N. personnel “including to the point of putting their lives in danger.”

A confidential note from the peacekeeping department to Security Council members, obtained by the Associated Press, lists dozens of violations of the U.N.’s status of forces agreement with South Sudan’s government. They include government forces restricting the movements of UNMISS patrols and helicopter operations, blocking contractors and supplies, assaulting an UNMISS national staff member, and harassing and detaining U.N. staff.

In response, Ladsous said, the United Nations needs to consider reducing its staff and limiting its activities “to the absolute minimum related to protection, human rights monitoring and support to humanitarian assistance.”

South Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Francis Deng attributed the “negative outcry” against the U.N. mission known as UNMISS “to the trauma, frustrations, pain and anger caused by the devastating violence that broke out on Dec. 15.”

Luxembourg’s U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas told reporters after closed council consultations that violations of the status of forces agreement and harassment of U.N. personnel “are unacceptable and agreed on the need to send a strong message.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended that the council increase UNMISS’ strength for a year to the levels in temporarily agreed to in December - 12,500 troops and 1,323 and to re-prioritize its mandate to focus on protecting civilians, delivering aid and monitoring human rights.

Lucas said “questions were raised about the appropriateness of a new mandate for UNMISS.”

UN Criticized Over Peacekeeping Invite to Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS CRITICIZED OVER PEACEKEEPING INVITE TO MYANMAR

Human Rights Watch criticized the United Nations Thursday for raising the possibility of Myanmar contributing troops to the U.N.'s peacekeeping force, describing the nation's military as among the most abusive in the world.

The New York-based group voiced its concerns in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It said that despite the democratic opening in the country also known as Burma, its military remains unreformed and continues to use child soldiers.

Vijay Nambiar, Ban's special adviser on Myanmar, raised the issue when he met Myanmar commander-in-chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in late January in the nation's capital Naypyitaw.

"The Burmese military's poor record on rights and civilian protection is profoundly at odds with the standards that United Nations peacekeepers are expected to defend around the world," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Any move by the United Nations to recruit Burmese forces risks grave damage to the United Nation's reputation."

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that Nambiar's talks with the Myanmar military chief were part of broader discussions about Myanmar's reintegration into the international community.

He said that, like any U.N. member state, Myanmar was invited to discuss its interest with the U.N. peacekeeping department, which would consider the request. U.N. forces are accountable to the highest standards in training and conduct, and thorough assessments are carried out prior to the acceptance of any uniformed personnel, he said.

Myanmar's diplomatic mission at the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment on whether it was interested in contributing peacekeepers — a potential source of revenue and international prestige.

A U.N report last May cited Myanmar on its list of countries that recruit children to its government forces, although it said Myanmar had made progress. Human Rights Watch said Thursday that while the government has signed an action plan with the U.N. and committed to releasing all child soldiers by the end of 2013, few have been released.

Nick Birnback, a U.N. peacekeeping spokesman, said that when considering whether to deploy peacekeepers from a member state, the U.N. carefully reviews that nation's record on recruiting child soldiers and whether it is taking serious measures to stop it, although there is no formal policy in the U.N. on barring a nation that it has cited over the issue.

Several Western nations, including the U.S., have begun engaging Myanmar's military after years of isolation while still blocking arms exports and voicing concerns over its lingering ties with North Korea. Those nations want to encourage Myanmar's military to embrace reform and submit to civilian control.

But in the letter to Ban, Human Rights Watch also cautioned against inviting Myanmar military officials to attend U.N. training or orientation sessions, saying it would signal the U.N. is ready to welcome Myanmar forces under the flag of the world body.

In January, a rights group accused Myanmar's military of continuing to use rape as weapon of war, despite the democratic reforms that began three years ago. The report from the Women's League of Burma documented more than 100 rapes, almost all in townships plagued by stubborn ethnic insurgencies.

In February, the U.N. rights rapporteur for Myanmar, Tomas Quintana, said he raised with Myanmar authorities allegations of rape, arbitrary detention and torture following military clashes in Kachin State and northern Shan State.

UN slams French forces for leaving Muslim fighters they disarmed and their families to die

     (Men brandish machetes and knives to threaten Muslim people Central African Republic)

UNITED NATIONS SLAMS FRENCH FORCES FOR LEAVING MUSLIM FIGHTERS THEY  DISARMED  AND THEIR FAMILIES TO DIE

Christian militias blamed for atrocities in Central African Republic civil war plagued by cannibalism

French peacekeepers left Muslim fighters and their families to die unarmed at the hands of Christian militias, the United Nations said today.

Mass killings were carried out in the war-torn Central African Republic despite the UN sending in 1,600 troops and the African Union 4,000.

The French United Nations force disarmed Muslim fighters in a bid to stop the killings.

Instead their Christian enemies used the move to carry out retaliatory attacks on troops and their families.

The French peacekeepers later changed their tactics.

Fighters from neighbouring Chad, ostensibly also on peacekeeping duties, unleashed a wave of killings and looting after the Muslim rebel coalition, Seleka, seized power in the CAR sparking revenge attacks by the Christian militia.

The report comes in the week it was revealed a machete-wielding mob hacked a Muslim man to death before one of them turned cannibal to eat chunks of his leg.

Ouandja Magloire, now known as “Mad Dog” was part of the Christian mob who dragged the man from a bus in the country’s capital city Bangui and stabbed and macheted him to death.

But then Magloire chopped off one of the man’s legs and started chewing chunks off it before swallowing them.

He said after devouring the human flesh he had carried out the macabre act in revenge for the slaughter of his pregnant wife, as well as his sister-in-law and her baby.

United nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said today evidence showed inter communal hatred had risen to “extraordinarily vicious levels”.

The crisis sent food prices soaring, leaving many households down to one meal a day and 2.6 million people in need of U.N. humanitarian assistance, the UN World Food Programme said in a separate report Colville defended the French peacekeepers, despite their bloody tactical blunder.

“They were obviously trying to disarm armed men, which was a good thing. There were opposition elements and even civilians who took advantage of that to attack and kill people who had been disarmed, or their dependants,” he said in his report.