Armed men in Crimea threaten UN envoy; Ban dispatches human rights official to Ukraine
March 6, 2014: The United Nations has confirmed that Senior Advisor Robert Serry
is in good shape physically after being threatened on Wednesday during his visit to
Crimea, Ukraine, by armed men who ordered him to leave the region.
“He was
met outside the main naval headquarters by a number of unidentified men who were saying
that he should leave Crimea and go to the airport,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson
told reporters in New York, as he briefed via telephone from the Ukrainian capital,
Kiev.
Mr. Serry apparently returned to his vehicle, and when the car could
not drive away, he walked back to his hotel accompanied by a UN colleague. “On his
way to the hotel he stopped by a cafe to call me, and that’s when we talked,” said
Mr. Eliasson. Mr. Serry, who was dispatched to Crimea to take stock of the situation
there, had been relying on Ukrainian authorities for security. He was threatened but
not kidnapped, the deputy UN chief stressed.
“He expects that all authorities
that have control of the situation will continue to guarantee his safe return to the
hotel and continued work. Otherwise, he will be forced to come back to Kiev to continue
his work from here.” A UN spokesperson later confirmed that Mr. Serry is taking a
flight out of Simferopol and will return to Kiev to continue his mission. In Kiev,
Mr. Eliasson has continued to meet with authorities, stressing the need for calm and
international unity in the pursuit of peace amid the ongoing crisis in the country.
“I
don’t think I’ve ever made so many references to the UN Charter,” he told reporters
in reference to UN Charter principles of unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mr. Eliasson is known to carry a copy of the Charter with him at all times, and was
earlier today photographed holding up the little blue booklet while calling for a
de-escalation of tensions between Kiev and Moscow.
Meanwhile, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, who is on an official visit to Sierra Leone, has announced that he is
sending Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonovic to Kiev and the
eastern part of Ukraine, including Crimea, to monitor the human rights situation.
Mr.
Šimonovic is expected to travel to Crimea over the weekend. (Source: UN)