Members of South Korea’s ninth rotational contingent of peacekeeping troops to South Sudan raise their fists in a show of solidarity at a send-off ceremony in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 5, 2018. South Korea has been participating in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan since March 2013, rotating their contingent every eight months, to help with the country’s reconstruction. (Yonhap)
Officials of South Korea’s peacekeeping troops and South Sudan take a photo on a downtown street in the city of Bor, South Sudan, on Nov. 24, 2017, after the installation of street lamps. Thirty solar-powered light-emitting diode lamps were erected along the street that marks the two countries’ friendship, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which provided this photo. South Korea’s Hanbit unit has been engaged in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the African nation since 2013. (Yonhap)
A bunch of western aid workers were beaten and gang raped and one journalist murdered by South Sudanese soldiers and the United Nations peacekeepers nearby did nothing to intervene:
About 20 minutes later, a Quick Reaction Force of Ethiopians from the multinational U.N. mission was tasked to intervene, coordinating with South Sudan’s army chief of staff, Paul Malong, who was also sending soldiers. But the Ethiopian battalion stood down, according to the timeline. Malong’s troops eventually abandoned their intervention too because it took too long for the Quick Reaction Force to act.
The American who was released early in the assault and made it to the U.N. base said he also alerted U.N. staff. At around dusk, a U.N. worker he knew requested three different battalions to send a Quick Reaction Force.
“Everyone refused to go. Ethiopia, China, and Nepal. All refused to go,” he said. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but why have peacekeepers if they are not going to keep the peace? This seems to be a reoccurring problem with United Nations troops. Considering that the ROK Army has peacekeepers in South Sudan it makes me wonder what they would do if faced with this same situation?
President Park Geun-hye meets with a South Korean soldier serving in South Sudan on a U.N. peacekeeping mission in a ceremony held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 27, 2016 to boost their morale, in this photo provided by her office. (Yonhap)
