On
Darfur, UN
Covers Up
Complaints of
Former Spox,
Quiet as ICRC
Banned
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 9 --
Can the UN be
believed?
Should it? At
least as
to the current
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
the answers
appears to be:
No.
On
February
4, Inner
City Press asked
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
lead
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
about a
full-on
critique of UN
Peacekeeping's
Darfur mission
by its former
spokesperson,
Aicha
Elbasri:
Inner
City
Press: On
Darfur, maybe
you have
something on
the Government
ordering the
ICRC
(International
Committee of
the Red Cross)
to
suspend
operations.
And I also
wanted to know
if there’s any
response from
the UN to
former UNAMID
[African
Union-United
Nations
Hybrid
Operation in
Darfur]
spokesperson
Aicha Elbasri.
She’s gone
public, saying
basically
that, while
serving as
spokesperson
of
UNAMID, she
wasn’t given
information;
that the
Mission
under-reports
abuses of
civilians and
other
developments
in Darfur. I
wanted to
know, what’s
the response
of the UN to
that?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I’d have to
check with the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations on
both of those.
So,
respecting
that, Inner
City Press
waited. The
answers
weren't
directly
provided by
e-mail as the
UN does with
other, but
read out
at the noon
briefing,
apparently to
see if anyone
else might
report
more
positively on
them (no one
did)
"we
were asked
about
reporting by
the African
Union–UN
Mission on
developments
in Darfur.
UNAMID notes
that it
reports
verified
information on
the situation
in Darfur to
the United
Nations and to
the African
Union on a
daily basis.
This
information is
then made
public in the
Secretary-General’s
quarterly
reports to the
Security
Council and,
as the
situation
warrants, in
press
statements."
To
a casual or
ill-informed
listener, it
sounded like a
legitimate
answer. But as
the UN and its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous
know, this is
part of Aicha
Elbasri's
critique:
"On
24
April I
resigned from
UNAMID and
wrote my
end-of-mission
report
requesting the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations to
look into
UNAMID’s
violations of
the UN Public
Information
policy which
calls
for open,
transparent
and honest
information-sharing
with the
media. I
didn't receive
any response.
On past
August, I
requested the
UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services to
open an
investigation
into
the matter.
The
information I
shared with
them should
have made
anyone who
cares about
the people of
Darfur and the
UN values and
policies jump,
call me and
take a quick
action. What I
received so
far is a
deafening
silence. And I
can no longer
wait, because
every
day that goes
by, more men,
women and
children die
in Darfur in
total
impunity and
invisibility.
So today I
will break the
UN code of
conduct and
share with you
some
confidential
photos and
information
that show the
African Union,
the United
Nations and
UNAMID’
conspiracy of
silence."
Surely
Ladsous' DPKO
(and Carman
Lapointe's
OIOS) know
what Aicha
Elbasri
submitted. But
the public
response was
as set forth
above.
Ban
Ki-moon tried
to send his
former
speechwriter
Michael Meyer
to Sudan
as
communications
chief of
UNAMID; it
never
happened. Now
Meyer is in
Nairobi, "dean
of the
graduate
school of
media and
communications
at Aga Khan
University."
On the ICRC,
Inner City
Press checked
and has found
that inquiry
was made - by
the ICRC, not
the UN -- with
Sudan's "HAC."
We'll have
more on all
this.
Watch this
site.
, 
