United Nations asks Angola for helicopters

28 February 2012 by defenceWeb

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked Angola to supply helicopters for peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

Ki-moon made the request during a meeting with Georges Chikoti, Angola’s Foreign Minister, in Luanda yesterday.

“As you know, several of our peacekeeping missions, including in DRC and in South Sudan, they suffer from a lack of military helicopters. I would appreciate it if your government” could assist, Ki-moon said.

“The secretary general asked the Angolan government to consider providing military assets, including helicopters, to UN peacekeeping,” Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky told journalists.

Ban spent 48 hours visiting Luanda, during which he met long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and other officials.

“I came to Luanda to show my support for the Angolan people and to strengthen the United Nations’ partnership with Angola,” Ki-moon said. “We agreed that the United Nations and Angola can work together for this country and the region.”

Ki-moon said he hoped that Angola would do even more on the international scene, in cooperation with the United Nations. “I hope that Angola will join other countries that once hosted UN peacekeeping operations and now proudly contribute and serve under our blue flag.

“I asked the Angolan Government to contribute to our operations. Angola has a well-trained military and air assets like helicopters that we urgently need to protect civilians.”

Ban complained last month that he had been reduced to begging governments for helicopters and still could not get peacekeepers to the besieged South Sudan town of Pibor, where the UN says dozens and perhaps hundreds died in clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle ethnic groups, AFP reports.

“What I have been asking of the Angolan President and Foreign Minister is that while Angola once was the recipient of UN peacekeeping operations, now it is time that Angola should contribute more proactively to peace and security areas by contributing their soldiers, well-trained and disciplined soldiers, and particularly helicopters and other air assets,” Ki-moon said.

“This is the one [area in] which they can [contribute]. We have been discussing the situation in Guinea-Bissau and the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Madagascar. These are the areas where Angola can play a very important, influential and political leadership role together with the United Nations. This will help not only in the stability of this region, but it will also enhance the political visibility and leadership role of Angola.”

The UN has access to 24 civilian helicopters in South Sudan, but they are normally not used for troop deployments. Helicopter flights were recently halted in the region after one came back from a flight with a bullet hole.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is the successor to the six-year peacekeeping mission deployed in Sudan after the 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan’s independence from the north in July 2011.

It was left short when Russia withdrew four of its UNMISS helicopters and grounded four others after an attack, Ban said.

Meanwhile MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was created in 2010 to succeed a peacekeeping mission deployed since 1999. The mission is charged with protecting civilians and humanitarian workers from marauding rebel groups in the east. It is one of the largest UN peacekeeping operations in the world, with some 20 000 uniformed personnel.

Whilst in Angola, Ki-moon helped launch this year’s Polio Campaign, which is part of UN efforts to help Angola reach the Millennium Development Goals.

However, he said that progress has been slow in some key areas. “We have to do more for Angola’s poor. We have to end unnecessary deaths of Angolan mothers and children. We have to give this country’s people the hope and opportunities they deserve. Angola has great wealth, but it also has large gaps between rich and poor.”

Angola is Africa's second-largest oil producer after Nigeria, but an estimated two-thirds of its population of 18 million people live on less than US$2 per day, Reuters reports.

In December, New-York based Human Rights Watch urged the government to account for $32 billion in missing funds thought to be linked to state oil firm Sonangol, which were spent or transferred from 2007 through 2010.

The government has denied the funds are missing and said the discrepancy resulted from insufficient record-keeping. The IMF said it expects the government to account for most of the discrepancy.

The UN chief also offered Angola support in its upcoming elections