At
UN
on
Darfur, 2 Views of Gambari, Silence on S. Kordofan & JEM
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
22, updated -- With Darfur the topic in the UN Security Council
on Friday morning, Inner City Press asked Council diplomats about
Ibrahim Gambari's new double job, replacing Djibril Bassole as Darfur
mediator while keeping his UNAMID job.
“It's only for
three months,” UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant told
Inner City Press. “There are still some issues to work out with
[Djibril] Bassole, who wanted to stay involved. And if the state of
emergency is not lifted, there is not Darfur Peace Process.”
South
Africa's
Permanent
Representative Baso Sangqu also told Inner City Press that
the state of emergency should be lifted, but was critical of setting
conditions before the Darfur Peace Process could begin. Let it begin,
he said, on the ground in Darfur.
Some
of
the rebel
leaders who don't live in Darfur, it was implied, might be isolated
by such a process.
Lyall
Grant
also
said that Gambari's “contract expires at the end of the year.” Inner
City Press went to the UN's noon briefing and asked Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm this, and
that Gambari is the new joint mediator on Darfur.
Nesirky said
he
couldn't confirm or comment on either, that he would look into it.
(He also said the UN cannot confirm events in Southern Kordofan,
including if any of its peacekeepers have in fact left the war torn
area -- while activists are by contrast calling for limited
intervention, click
here
for that.)
Later
when
Gambari
emerged from the Council, after a “bilateral” meeting with
Brazil's Permanent Representative Viotti, he graciously agreed to
answer questions at the stakeout. Inner City Press asked about
continued aerial bombing by the government in Darfur.
Gambari called
it unacceptable but said that in Darfur from January to May 2011
there were 400 deaths due to armed conflict and that “in South
Sudan there were four times that many.”
He
noted that
several Darfur rebels leaders are not in Sudan, specifying that Abdel
Wahid al Nur, once in Paris, is now in Kampala. And what about
Khalil Ibrahim in Tripoli?
Gambari on July 21 being "interviewed" by UN:
Kordofan answers not shown
Inner
City
Press
asked Gambari if he is “the new Bassole.” He laughed and said
that because Bassole had been named foreign minister of Burkina Faso
-- this happened after a mutiny against president Blaise Campoure --
Bassole could not “practically” remain as Darfur mediator, due to
“accountability.”
Gambari
said
he is
the mediator “ad interim.” He declined to comment on the arrest
of SPLM leaders in Nyala in South Darfur or on whether the JEM rebels
are fighting with SPLM-North in Southern Kordofan. So how many
death,
especially of civilians, due to armed conflict have there been in
Southern Kordofan? We'll have more on this.
From
the
UN's
transcript of its July 22, 2011 noon briefing:
Inner
City
Press: just now in front of the Security Council during the
Darfur briefing, it was said that Mr. Gambari is going to be now
taking over from Mr. Bassolé for three months. And one Permanent
Representative said that’s because his contract expires at the end
of the year. What’s the UN’s understanding of whether he is
going to be wearing those two hats and for how long, and is it true
that his contract, I guess UN or UN-AU contract, expires at the end
of the year?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I have to look into that, I don’t know.
Inner
City
Press: But is he the new mediator, Doha process mediator?
Spokesperson
Nesirky
: The answer I just gave you applies to everything you said.
And
five hours
later there was still no information from the UN Office of the
Spokesperson, even after what Gambari himself said...
* * *
Sudan
Slaughter
of 150 Nubans Frozen in UN Edit Room, Rudderless
Peacekeeping
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
21 -- While the UN holds a
report that that one of its
staff members in Sudan saw the piled corpses of 150 people of Nubian
descent in South Kordofan, it insists that because the report is a
“leaked draft,” it cannot or will not take action on its yet.
On
July 21, the day
after Inner City Press put the full report
online, it asked UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about this
paragraph:
28.
An
UNMIS
staff member who was detained by SAF at their military
facility in Umbattah Locality reported during his detention, that he
saw over an estimated 150 dead bodies of persons of Nuban descent
scattered on the grounds of the military compound. Some of the bodies
appeared to have bullet wounds and he reported a large quantity of
blood on the ground. He reported a SAF soldier told them that they
had all been shot dead.
But
Nesirky cut
Inner City Press off in the middle of the paragraph, to insist this
is only a draft. From the UN's
July
21 transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
I am still looking at this report that was put out by the
human rights component of UNMIS [United Nations Mission in Sudan]. One
of the many things said in it is that --
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Let’s
just roll back a bit, and I am sorry to interrupt
you, but it is not a report that has been put out by UNMIS, it is an
as yet un-finalized report that was leaked. So let’s get the
context correct.
Inner
City
Press:
Let’s say this: the leaked report says that an UNMIS
staff member witnessed 150 dead bodies of Nuban descent in a military
facility in Sudan. So, my question is, even though it’s a leaked
report, it seems to be such a serious allegation that it seems
strange that the UN would say, we’re going to wait two weeks to
finalize it. What is being done, since that 150 dead bodies was
witnessed by a UN staff member? What actions have been taken, even
while the actual document itself is being finalized?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I
am sure that the relevant people, and you’ve heard Ivan
Simonovic speaking on this topic, will have been seeking to follow up
on it. And as you heard Mr. Simonovic say, there are efforts to gain
access, so that there can be the kind of follow-up that you are
talking about. And if Mr. Simonovic has any further follow-up on
that, then obviously I’d let you know.
Question:
And
just one more on peacekeeping. Today at the stakeout, Mr. Le
Roy said that he’s leaving on 10 August. So that seems to be
coming up pretty quickly. Without, I guess, getting into the names,
is there are going to be a new Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations on 10 August, or when is the process thought
to come to a conclusion? Is there a shortlist, et cetera?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I
would doubt that there would be a new
Under-Secretary-General in place to take over the day after Mr. Le
Roy leaves office. Obviously there are, there is an established
procedure for having an officer-in-charge until a new
Under-Secretary-General is appointed. And when we get to that stage,
an announcement will be made.
At
the Security
Council stakeout on July 21, Le Roy told Inner City Press that the
report would not be finalized by the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations until two weeks after Mr. Simonovic spoke to the press
last week. That would be the day after Le Roy's final press
conference, and just before he leaves with no successor in place.
Ban, Nesirky, Nambiar & Orr, action on UN inaction not shown
Meanwhile,
as
to
the future in Southern Kordofan, Inner City Press asked
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
there has been this quote by the Foreign Minister of
Sudan, Ali Karti, that there is an openness on the part of Khartoum
to, quote, “foreign troops” in Southern Kordofan. Has the UN
been informed of that? What does the UN think of that statement?
Spokesperson:
We
are certainly aware of the statement, and we’re following up
with the Sudanese authorities to try to understand in greater detail
what that means.
But
who in the UN
is following up with what Sudanese authorities? Watch this site.
* * *
Sudan
Killing
in
Kordofan, & UN Inaction, Detailed in UN
Report, Online
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
20
-- Amid Sudan's slaughter in Southern Kordofan despite
UN peacekeepers being there, inaction by the Egyptian contingent of
the UN Mission in Sudan has been the subject of increasing shock and
disgust.
On
July
20
after trying
to
ask
UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon about it when he took questions about climate change at the
Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky about the "leaked" report,
particular these sections in
paragraphs 42 and 29:
42.
On
8
June,
UNMIS Human Rights witnessed the movement of four armed
men (two armed civilians and two Central Reserve Police) carrying
weapons in and out of the UNMIS Protective Perimeter without
any intervention from the UNMIS peacekeepers guarding the premises.
The
armed
men
conducted identity checks on the IDPs. Eyewitnesses
interviewed reported that the armed men abducted three IDPs from the
vicinity of the UNMIS Protective Perimeter on suspicion that they
were supporters of the SPLM.
29.
On
8
June,
an UNMIS independent contractor (IC) was pulled out of a
vehicle by SAF in front of the UNMIS Kadugli Sector IV Compound in
the presence of several witnesses, while UN peacekeepers could
not intervene. He was taken around the corner of the compound and
gunshots were heard. Later he was discovered dead by UNMIS
personnel and IDPs. Several sources confirmed that the victim was an
active SPLM member.
Earlier
this
month
a
Dutch court said that immunity was no defense to the liability of
peacekeepers for deaths in Srebrenica. These descriptions - in the
UN's own report -- non “intervention” by UN peacekeepers echo
that. Inner City Press is putting the report
online, here.
UN
spokesman
Nesirky said in response that the above-quoted report “ has
not yet
been finalized.”
Inner City
Press asked
if
it
would be edited by
the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations:
Inner
City
Press:
I’m
looking at this, the UNMIS human rights report
about Southern Kordofan and it’s beyond what is being sort of
reported publicly, it has a paragraph very specifically saying on 8
June UNMIS human rights witnessed armed people coming in and out of
the UNMIS protection perimeter without any intervention from the UN
peacekeepers guarding the premises. The allegation is that the
Egyptian peacekeepers of that unit were either sided with the
Government or chose to not act. And what I am wondering is, if,
since this is the UN’s own report, what’s the next step? Is the
Secretary-General going to order some kind of an inquiry?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
first
of all, as you well know, the report has not
yet been finalized, and Mr. Šimonovic' made that quite clear when he
spoke to you here the other day. That’s the first point. The
second is that we’re extremely concerned about the allegations that
are out there, including those that have been brought to light in the
report, which is not yet finalized. So, I think we need to ensure
that that report goes through the right procedure before more details
are given on that. But suffice it to say that many people within the
UN community, from the Secretary-General down, are extremely
concerned about the alleged incidents that there have been and the
reports that we are hearing.
Inner
City
Press:
The
one thing I wanted to know is, it seems from the way
Mr. Simonovic said it, that this joint reporting to the Office of the
High Commissioner on Human Rights and to DPKO, so, since the
allegation, at least the one that I just read out, is against DPKO,
what’s their role in editing the finalizing report?
Spokesperson:
Well,
I
think let’s be really clear, there is nothing unusual in
that arrangement. Wherever there is a mandate within a peacekeeping
mission mandate to look at human rights, there should be a human
rights component — in other words, people who deal with that. And
of course, as Mr. Šimonovic' explained, there is a dual reporting
role. A report of that nature of course will need to be seen by the
principals concerned in the Office and in the Department. And that’s
normal procedure.
Inner
City
Press:
When
you’re saying it’s finalized, it describes
things that happened on a particular day. Is there some idea that
this will be changed in a final report?
Spokesperson:
I
do
not know what the final version will look like. But as you all
know, this, the document that has been circulated, or rather leaked,
is not the final version. And it is still in the process of being
finalized. But as I have said, it is already clear that there are
very serious allegations out there, not just in the report that’s
being talked about and which Mr. Šimonovic' spoke about at some
length the other day, but more generally. And those reports are
alarming and we’re extremely worried about them, the
Secretary-General included.
Some
wonder
why,
if
Ban Ki-moon is so extremely worried about this, he did not mention or
take any questions on it on July 20 outside the Security Council. The
numbers of executed are high. Here is another paragraph:
28.
An
UNMIS
staff
member who was detained by SAF at their military
facility in Umbattah Locality reported during his detention, that he
saw over an estimated 150 dead bodies of persons of Nuban descent
scattered on the grounds of the military compound. Some of the bodies
appeared to have bullet wounds and he reported a large quantity of
blood on the ground. He reported a SAF soldier told them that they
had all been shot dead.
In
the face of
this UN reporting, why stand on the principle that the report “is
not finalized?” We will pursue this. Watch this site.
, 
in