In
Darfur, UN Has
No
Answer on
Militia, Only
Whispers of
Bombings
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 24 --
Darfur must be
mentioned
alongside the
UN's
failure in
Eastern Congo,
where
peacekeepers
under the
command of
Herve Ladsous
did nothing as
the M23
mutineers took
over Goma and
now
other towns.
The
UNAMID mission
in Darfur has
been left with
only an
interim leader
for months
now. It issues
good news and
spin as new
militias form,
bombs drop,
and civilians
are killed.
On
November 23
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
three top
spokespeople
to "please
state UNAMID's
/ DPKO's
knowledge of
and if
applicable
action on
allegations
that North
Darfur
Governor Osman
Youssef Kibir
is forming a
private
militia."
More
than three
hours later,
it was
Ladsous'
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
who
purported to
respond. But
on this, all
he said was "I
am looking
into this."
And in the
twenty hours
since, no
information
has
been provided.
In
the interim,
the Sudan
Liberation
Army-Abdelwahid
Nur say they
have
taken over an
army base near
Kebkabiya, 150
kilometers
west of El
Fasher where
UNAMID's
headquarters
are. So far,
nothing from
the UN
about it.
Back
on November
22, Inner City
Press asked
the UN another
Darfur (or
South Sudan)
question:
Inner
City Press:
South Sudan is
saying that
Sudan has
bombed its
territory,
it’s been
brewing for a
couple of days
where Sudan
said
that it was
going to bomb
a rebel group
that set up
shop, they
claimed it is
in Sudan, in
Darfur, and
South Sudan
says it is in
its
territory.
Since there is
two
peacekeeping
missions there
—
UNMISS, double
S, and UNAMID
— did this
bombing take
place? What
is the effect
of the bombing
and where did
it take place?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well,
from what I
understand,
the
bombing, if it
took place, it
took place
outside of the
zone where
UNMISS is, so
we have no
comment on
that. We have
no
information.
Inner
City Press: in
South Sudan
or…?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I don’t know.
I don’t have…
I have seen
the
report you
have seen, but
from what we
have here… let
me just check
and see, one
second, we may
have something
here — I
believe that
the
information
that I have is
that it was
outside of the
zone where
UNMISS is
mandated to
act, and
therefore, we
don’t have
anything to
say on it.
Inner
City Press:
UNMISS covers
all of South
Sudan, I don’t
think that
there are
zones that
they don’t go
to in South
Sudan.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I’ll
have to get
that
information
for you,
Matthew.
[The
Deputy
Spokesperson
later said
that the
bombings
reportedly
took
place in the
north of the
disputed
1-1-56
boundary.
That's why we
can't comment.
It is out of
our area of
operations and
that's why we
haven't been
able to
verify.]
This
answer,
referring to
one of the two
missions
controlled by
Ladsous, was
only inserted
into the
transcript of
the briefing
-- it was not
emailed or
otherwise
provided to
Inner City
Press,
which asked
the question.
Perhaps it was
read out over
the UN's
"squawk"
system which
is piped to
the cubicles
assigned to
correspondents
-- but this
during a
day of
repeated
Security
Council
meetings on
Gaza and
the Congo,
which Inner
City Press
covered not
from cubicle
but from
Security
Council
stakeout, asking
questions to
the
Ambassadors of
India, Israel,
Morocco and
the United
States.
At
the Security
Council
stakeout, on
basic
questions
about the UN's
failure in the
Congo in the
face of the
M23 mutineers,
Ladsous
refused
to answer any
Press
questions, and
his spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
openly
directly UN
personnel
not to give
Inner City
Press the
microphone to
ask, "Would
the UN defend
Bukavu?"
This is
the UN of
Ladsous, and
ultimately Ban
Ki-moon. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
