This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/world/africa/un-peacekeepers-south-sudan-massacre.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| U.N. Has a Tough Mandate in South Sudan, and a Spotted Record | U.N. Has a Tough Mandate in South Sudan, and a Spotted Record |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| UNITED NATIONS — The thousands of United Nations peacekeepers trying to stave off disaster in South Sudan already have a tough, clear mandate: to protect civilians by any means necessary. | UNITED NATIONS — The thousands of United Nations peacekeepers trying to stave off disaster in South Sudan already have a tough, clear mandate: to protect civilians by any means necessary. |
| Their track record, however, shows that they have not always been able or willing to do that. | Their track record, however, shows that they have not always been able or willing to do that. |
| When civil war broke out in South Sudan more than two years ago, the United Nations took pains to tell the world that its peacekeepers in the country had opened their compound gates and given refuge to tens of thousands of civilians. | When civil war broke out in South Sudan more than two years ago, the United Nations took pains to tell the world that its peacekeepers in the country had opened their compound gates and given refuge to tens of thousands of civilians. |
| Since then, however, the troops have faced blistering criticism for not taking steps in time to head off an ethnic massacre in a camp for displaced people; for being unable to protect women who were raped when they ventured outside camps to gather firewood; and for being confined to their bases as new spasms of violence over the weekend led to the deaths of even more civilians. | Since then, however, the troops have faced blistering criticism for not taking steps in time to head off an ethnic massacre in a camp for displaced people; for being unable to protect women who were raped when they ventured outside camps to gather firewood; and for being confined to their bases as new spasms of violence over the weekend led to the deaths of even more civilians. |
| On Wednesday, as senior United Nations officials warned of the risks of renewed fighting between rival South Sudanese factions after deadly clashes over the weekend, Security Council diplomats met behind closed doors to discuss whether to send more troops or give them new orders. | |
| They agreed on little. And so it remained unclear whether the Council would move anytime soon to impose an arms embargo on the warring parties, as the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has called for, or whether they could agree on a political strategy to make the peacekeepers’ job any easier. | |
| The United Nations said that its troops patrolled the streets of the Juba, the capital, on Wednesday for the first time in days, only to discover that food stocks had been looted from its warehouses. The United States announced that it would charter two planes to allow its citizens to leave Juba. | |
| “Further clashes cannot be ruled out,” Hervé Ladsous, the United Nations under secretary general for peacekeeping, told the Council. | |
| Over the weekend, United Nations troops were under lockdown in their bases in Juba as government forces put up checkpoints and thousands of civilians poured in. Gunmen fired at civilians trying to enter the United Nations bases, which also came under fire. Two peacekeepers were killed inside a base, along with at least eight civilians. | |
| “Something is fundamentally wrong with the mandate of the U.N. mission here,” Zlatko Gegic, the country director for Oxfam, said by Skype from Juba this week. “They were victims themselves, being completely unable to move.” | “Something is fundamentally wrong with the mandate of the U.N. mission here,” Zlatko Gegic, the country director for Oxfam, said by Skype from Juba this week. “They were victims themselves, being completely unable to move.” |
| There are 13,000 troops and police officers on the ground now, nearly half of them assigned to protect displaced people sheltering in their bases, known as protection of civilian sites. | |
| Some of South Sudan’s neighbors are calling for the mission to be fortified with a special unit that could intervene militarily, as peacekeepers were allowed to do against a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a far trickier proposition in South Sudan, however, as an intervention could embroil United Nations troops in an incendiary ethnic conflict. | Some of South Sudan’s neighbors are calling for the mission to be fortified with a special unit that could intervene militarily, as peacekeepers were allowed to do against a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a far trickier proposition in South Sudan, however, as an intervention could embroil United Nations troops in an incendiary ethnic conflict. |
| The challenge in South Sudan is part of a broader identity crisis for United Nations peacekeeping. Globally, the program is bigger and more expensive than ever, with the United States picking up more than one-fourth of the $8.3 billion budget. But peacekeeping’s limitations are also on stark display, especially when it comes to the program’s ability to protect civilians. The shadow of United Nations failures in Rwanda in 1994 and in Srebrenica in 1995, during the Bosnian war, still loom large. | |
| In South Sudan, the world’s newest country, not only have peacekeepers been unable to ward off what United Nations investigators call crimes against humanity committed chiefly, though not entirely, by government forces, but its own so-called protection-of-civilians sites have not always been reliable sanctuaries. The peacekeeping mission has drawn its harshest criticism over its failure to prevent an ethnic massacre at a camp in the strategic city of Malakal in mid-February. | In South Sudan, the world’s newest country, not only have peacekeepers been unable to ward off what United Nations investigators call crimes against humanity committed chiefly, though not entirely, by government forces, but its own so-called protection-of-civilians sites have not always been reliable sanctuaries. The peacekeeping mission has drawn its harshest criticism over its failure to prevent an ethnic massacre at a camp in the strategic city of Malakal in mid-February. |
| Two separate investigations for events in Malakal, by panels appointed by the United Nations, suggested that some peacekeepers had retreated from their posts and that others had waited for written instructions from headquarters. Both acts contravened the mandate set by the Security Council: to protect civilians, by deadly force if necessary. | Two separate investigations for events in Malakal, by panels appointed by the United Nations, suggested that some peacekeepers had retreated from their posts and that others had waited for written instructions from headquarters. Both acts contravened the mandate set by the Security Council: to protect civilians, by deadly force if necessary. |
| While the troops dithered, according to one of the investigations, gunmen threw grenades into the camp, singled out civilians based on their ethnicity, and went on a looting and burning rampage. When peacekeepers finally advanced, 16 hours after the attack began, and fired into the air, the gunmen withdrew. | While the troops dithered, according to one of the investigations, gunmen threw grenades into the camp, singled out civilians based on their ethnicity, and went on a looting and burning rampage. When peacekeepers finally advanced, 16 hours after the attack began, and fired into the air, the gunmen withdrew. |
| By then at least 30 people had died, and at least 123 had been wounded. | By then at least 30 people had died, and at least 123 had been wounded. |
| The Malakal massacre has emerged as a test of the United Nations’ recent pledges to ensure that peacekeepers are held accountable when they do not do their jobs. | The Malakal massacre has emerged as a test of the United Nations’ recent pledges to ensure that peacekeepers are held accountable when they do not do their jobs. |
| “While some peacekeepers performed bravely, some of those with the responsibility to protect civilians did anything but that,” David Pressman, an American ambassador at the United Nations, said in an email shortly after a closed-door Security Council meeting on what happened in Malakal. | “While some peacekeepers performed bravely, some of those with the responsibility to protect civilians did anything but that,” David Pressman, an American ambassador at the United Nations, said in an email shortly after a closed-door Security Council meeting on what happened in Malakal. |
| “This was a horrific event,” he said. “It merits a serious response and accountability, certainly for the uniformed perpetrators who killed innocents but also for peacekeepers who may have failed to carry out their responsibilities.” | “This was a horrific event,” he said. “It merits a serious response and accountability, certainly for the uniformed perpetrators who killed innocents but also for peacekeepers who may have failed to carry out their responsibilities.” |
| Doctors Without Borders, the medical aid group, said in a report of its own that the United Nations had “failed in its duty to safeguard the people at the site and could have averted many fatalities.” | Doctors Without Borders, the medical aid group, said in a report of its own that the United Nations had “failed in its duty to safeguard the people at the site and could have averted many fatalities.” |
| South Sudan is a vast, largely roadless country of rivers and swamps — and of deadly ethnic fault lines. A full-scale civil war broke out in December 2013, when soldiers loyal to the president, Salva Kiir, took up arms against followers of the vice president at the time, Riek Machar. Mr. Kiir’s loyalists belong mainly to his Dinka ethnic group, while Mr. Machar is a Nuer. The two men signed a peace accord in August, but it remains, for now, limited to words on a page. | South Sudan is a vast, largely roadless country of rivers and swamps — and of deadly ethnic fault lines. A full-scale civil war broke out in December 2013, when soldiers loyal to the president, Salva Kiir, took up arms against followers of the vice president at the time, Riek Machar. Mr. Kiir’s loyalists belong mainly to his Dinka ethnic group, while Mr. Machar is a Nuer. The two men signed a peace accord in August, but it remains, for now, limited to words on a page. |
| Roughly two million people have been forced from their homes, with nearly 200,000 living inside United Nations bases that were never meant to become camps for so many people for so long. | Roughly two million people have been forced from their homes, with nearly 200,000 living inside United Nations bases that were never meant to become camps for so many people for so long. |
| One of the camps was in Malakal. According to one of the internal investigations, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, someone cut a hole in the fence that encircled the camp, about 50 feet from a United Nations sentry post staffed by Ethiopian soldiers. Two Dinka men tried to smuggle in two Kalashnikovs through the hole, plus 58 rounds of ammunition. Peacekeepers tried to detain them, but the smugglers escaped. | One of the camps was in Malakal. According to one of the internal investigations, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, someone cut a hole in the fence that encircled the camp, about 50 feet from a United Nations sentry post staffed by Ethiopian soldiers. Two Dinka men tried to smuggle in two Kalashnikovs through the hole, plus 58 rounds of ammunition. Peacekeepers tried to detain them, but the smugglers escaped. |
| Through that hole in the fence, over the course of the next day, most of the camp’s ethnic Dinka residents left. | Through that hole in the fence, over the course of the next day, most of the camp’s ethnic Dinka residents left. |
| Uniformed soldiers loyal to Mr. Kiir assembled on the edges of the camp. By late that second day, clashes broke out inside. The peacekeepers deployed one platoon to try to disperse the crowd. The soldiers fired tear gas. | Uniformed soldiers loyal to Mr. Kiir assembled on the edges of the camp. By late that second day, clashes broke out inside. The peacekeepers deployed one platoon to try to disperse the crowd. The soldiers fired tear gas. |
| It was not enough to deter the troublemakers. A grenade was thrown into an ethnic Shilluk section of the camp. A fire broke out in the Nuer enclave. The Dinka sections were left intact. | It was not enough to deter the troublemakers. A grenade was thrown into an ethnic Shilluk section of the camp. A fire broke out in the Nuer enclave. The Dinka sections were left intact. |
| By morning on the third day, the report said, witnesses saw South Sudanese troops inside the camp, along with armed men in civilian clothes and white scarves masking their faces. The report concluded that the attack “seems to have been well planned and orchestrated by local authorities.” | By morning on the third day, the report said, witnesses saw South Sudanese troops inside the camp, along with armed men in civilian clothes and white scarves masking their faces. The report concluded that the attack “seems to have been well planned and orchestrated by local authorities.” |
| As for the United Nations forces, only at 2:30 p.m. did they respond with force, advancing in four armored personnel carriers and firing into the air. | As for the United Nations forces, only at 2:30 p.m. did they respond with force, advancing in four armored personnel carriers and firing into the air. |
| The second internal inquiry recommended “decisive action” against units that were unwilling to use force, including by repatriating entire units or individual commanders. | The second internal inquiry recommended “decisive action” against units that were unwilling to use force, including by repatriating entire units or individual commanders. |
| As always, the tricky part for the United Nations is confronting countries that contribute armed forces for its missions, especially countries that send lots of troops, without whom peacekeeping operations could not exist. Countries that had contingents in Malakal — Ethiopia, India and Rwanda — are among the largest troop contributors. | |
| In a measure of the political difficulties, the under secretary general for peacekeeping, Mr. Ladsous, told reporters in mid-June that some of the soldiers would be sent home. He declined to reveal their nationalities. A month later, none of the troops had been repatriated, and given the latest surge of violence, it is unlikely any of them will be anytime soon. | |
| Now, as the Security Council tries to strengthen the United Nations mission, the question remains: What can peacekeepers be expected to do in South Sudan? | Now, as the Security Council tries to strengthen the United Nations mission, the question remains: What can peacekeepers be expected to do in South Sudan? |
| “The argument for keeping the mission in place is that, by guarding civilians at its protection sites, it mitigates the overall violence,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “But a lot of the sites seem to to be insecure, and the risk of a large-scale massacre at a U.N. base is serious.” | “The argument for keeping the mission in place is that, by guarding civilians at its protection sites, it mitigates the overall violence,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “But a lot of the sites seem to to be insecure, and the risk of a large-scale massacre at a U.N. base is serious.” |