Hilde Johnson Was Simply Managing Her Exit

Anyone who vacates a scene is a good person. On the same note, a deceased is highly talked about as a matter of remembrance. That is the reason why many South Sudanese adore the past liberation heroes whom they bitterly opposed while alive.

Madam H. Johnson surely deserves a pat on the back and many South Sudanese have written to that effect. The peacekeeping job she ran was a difficult one in a difficult country like South Sudan where everything is demanded but nothing is appreciated. Therefore, she was blamed many times from the four corners for everything that transpires despite not being directly closer to her jurisdiction.

At this stage, many can now pay tributes to her and UNMISS for the most difficult job on the African continent particularly after the December 15 coup which she however, failed to acknowledge. This was among many of several errors of judgment her leadership committed in the country.

This author, like many other South Sudanese observers has written several articles demanding resignation, expulsion or sacking of Dr. Johnson as head of UNMISS. Her leadership continuation was untenable amid crippling conflict she indirectly or directly contributed to. The South Sudanese who demonstrated a couple of times were not that foolhardy to do so for no apparent reasons.

Apart from giving a lip service on protection of civilians and other obligations as mandated by the UN Security Council (UNSC), the UNMISS under her leadership performed poorly compared to the SPLA and the police in the security arena. The UN mission on several occasions noted security to be the primary responsibility of the SPLA and the police. That did not mean that the UN mission was to be on the back seat.

I guess that the UN was an organ that promotes and supports democracy and human rights across the globe as a main core of its Charter (UN). Contrarily, the insistence of UN Chief, Ban Ki Moon to maintain Dr. Johnson in South Sudan after supervision over the crises angered all including the government who felt suspicious and claimed hidden intentions by the world body. If these claims were true, the UNMISS head or the UNSRG would have long bowed to pressure and resign over the mass demonstrations by South Sudanese against her not so unerring leadership.

Therefore, Ban Ki Moon was contemptuous for not sacking UNSGSR. In the Western hemisphere where the UN works, a single death brings about departure of those in charge. The heads must roll.

The major failures of UNMISS under Johnson are vivid to forget. The shooting down of a helicopter in Pibor County in unclear circumstances, the killing of UNMISS armed officers in Gumuruk, in the same Pibor County, the killing of vulnerable civilians in Akobo along with UNMISS soldiers, the weapons scandal in Rumbek and lastly, the killing of civilians in Bor under the watchful eye of UN mission won’t earn UNMISS accolades.

During the long war of liberation for over twenty years, there was no UN mission carrying arms like what we witness today. We managed to go through despite that fact.

It is mostly the African continent which entertains UN japes in their entirety. Rwanda, Somalia, DRC, South Sudan, CAR, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea have UN armed missions with little success stories. UN armed mission watched over genocide in Rwanda and the UN mission in Darfur, Sudan was last month levelled a failure by one of its former top officials.

The UNMISS despite these failures has small achievements to acknowledged. Road construction, health care services, hosting internally displaced persons in camps, transport by air of those in need, promotion of democracy and human rights etcetera are some positive contributions that have assisted many.

It is also fair to acknowledged the contribution by Norway, Dr. Johnson’s country made to the people of South Sudan to date, the latest being the organisation of donors’ conference in May 2014. The pledges realised amounted to over 600 million. This will go a long way to assist victims of the current conflict to see another day.

Dr. Johnson has said that South Sudan has a special place in her heart because she was part of peace negotiations and represented UN Secretary General for three years working for the country she loves. On this note we all wish her well on her next job.