YouSaid · the spoken record

Lieutenant General Keita

lines on the record: 7
first: 2017-05-23
most recent: 2017-05-23
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We have to ensure the safety of everyone in Bangui, from the President to the smallest child. We have to keep that centre of gravity safe. We need a bit of investment to preserve the centre of gravity and the Bombari success, and fill the huge vacuum in the south east. We can then capitalize on that and make the mission successful. We ask that that request be considered and that it be a matter of urgency so that we can control and improve the situation to achieve success.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“For more than three years, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) carried out activities and the Ugandans, supported by the United States, dealt with the threat posed by the LRA. But while the conflict was moving south-east, at the same time the African Union and the Ugandans, supported by the Americans, started leaving and a vacuum was created. In addition, we do not have enough capability to move and fulfil the protection-of-civilians mandate, deal with the LRA threat to the civilian population and try to stabilize the area. Because Bambari was a success and a turning point, we have to preserve that achievement so that development investment can be made. Capability is therefore required just to make Bambari safe. At the same time, as the Council knows, we have a centre of gravity known as Bangui, the capital of the country.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“I am very glad that the representative of the United States asked that question because the narrative is that the United States does not want to hear about additional capability. It wants the peacekeeping missions to do more with less. We have tried to do more with less but we have reached our culminating point. In military operations, when the culminating point has been reached, we can no longer move forward and then we lose ground. We have reached that culminating point. To prevent us from losing ground, we have requested additional resources. That requires investment to rightsize the force. After Bambari, the threat has moved towards the south east. The south-east of the country was a very peaceful area throughout the conflict.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“The peacekeepers cannot be put into that type of situation and have to deal with red tape and caveats that render them non-operational. If the missions are to be fully operational, then risks must be accepted and caveats removed. Troops must then be given the ability to meet the protection-of-civilians challenges they face on the ground. I think that the problem can be solved at that level. At the moment, as soon as the troops land on the ground, there is too much red tape that we cannot circumvent. The last question came from the representative of the United States about whether or not I have the right capability to deal with the worsening situation in the Central African Republic in order to achieve success in the country.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“(spoke in English) I received another question from the representative of the United Kingdom on how to mitigate the impact of red tape on peacekeeping operations. That is a very important issue but it is beyond the capability of the Force Commanders. I think that it is up to the Security Council, the Department of Peacekeeping Affairs and the troop-contributing countries to agree on the reason that we send soldiers to current peacekeeping missions. We have all understood that for 90 per cent of the current missions, there is no peace to keep. We therefore send the troops for some other reason, and that other reason is to protect civilians against armed individuals who kill civilians. It is therefore obvious that if the Council sends peacekeepers to deal with armed groups who kill, then they must be ready to fight.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“The second reason was that, as Bambari is the second largest city, taking it would have meant the de facto division of the country in two, because it is the only remaining city that prevents the Central African Republic from being divided between the east and the west.Because of those two fundamental reasons, we were more or less forced to take decisive steps and the most suitable way to do that was to use our advantage. Our advantage over the rebel groups was in the air, which enabled us to be decisive and at the same time to ensure that our troops were not too vulnerable. Despite the fact that we had troops on the ground to handle the situation, we used the advantage we had, which was key to our efforts. It stopped the advance of the coalition into Bambari. We were compelled to use helicopters for those two reasons.”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source
“I would first like once again to express our gratitude to the members of the Security Council for their support, and our acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by peacekeeping soldiers. Iwill only briefly address the three questions asked, because I believe that the other Force Commanders have already provided information concerning them. With regard to the representative of Senegal's question, the engagement of our helicopters in Bambari to confront a coalition was due to two basic reasons. The first concerned the very credibility of our mission. Would we stand by and watch one coalition attack another in the second largest city of the country, thereby allowing chaos and despair to reign over the civilian population?”
2017-05-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7947 (2017) · source