After
Sudan's Harun
Is Filmed
Threatening
War Crime,
Ban's UN Says
It's Up to ICC
to
Respond
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 3 -- On
film, the
governor of
South Kordofan
Ahmed
Harun said,
"You must hand
over the place
clean. Rub it,
crush
it and sweep
it. Don't
bring them
back alive. We
have no space
for
them." Given
the similarity
to Gaddafi
comments that
led to UN
rebuke and
NATO bombing,
Inner City
Press on
April 2 asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman:
Inner
City
Press: footage
has come out
over the
weekend of
Ahmed Haroun,
the Governor
of Southern
Kordofan,
shown in very
clear video
fashion
telling troops
in Southern
Kordofan to
take no
prisoners and
to clean
them out, and
a general
stands next to
him and says,
“let’s eat
them raw”. And
many are
saying that
this is proof
of a war crime
and obviously
into some
[inaudible]
back to the UN actually
flying
Ahmed Haroun
to Abyei and
back. Does
the UN, given
its continuing
interest in
this area,
Southern
Kordofan, and
its role in
the past
with Ahmed
Haroun, have
any view of
this tape and
what should
happen
now?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: Well,
listen, as you
know, we don’t
have direct
full access to
Southern
Kordofan in
the fashion
that we would
obviously
like. So, it
is very
difficult for
us to have a
full
picture of
what is
happening on
the ground. We
are obviously
extremely
concerned
about the
reports that
are coming out
of there. I
think it is a
bit of a
stretch to be
linking what
may or may not
be
happening now
with previous
engagements of
the kind that
you
mentioned —
transporting
this gentleman
by helicopter.
But, I
understand
what you are
saying. I
don’t have
anything
further on
that
particular
point, except
simply to
stress that we
are concerned
about the
reports that
are emerging
from there.
But, we don’t
have
the direct
access that we
would need to
be able to
really
understand
fully what is
going on.
So,
the UN sought
not to respond
to what Harun
was filmed
saying, and
even to avoid
commenting on
what is going
on in South
Kordofan by
citing its
lack
of access. Did
the UN have
more access to
Benghazi? Or
to Syria now?
While
the UN,
which
as noted has
offered free
helicopter
flights to
Harun after he
was indicted
by the
International
Criminal Court,
had nothing to
say,
even Cathy
Ashton of the
European Union
issued a
statement:
"I
am
alarmed at
video footage
showing Ahmed
Haroun, the
Governor of
Southern
Kordofan,
urging
Sudanese
soldiers to
take no
prisoners
during
fighting in
Southern
Kordofan and a
Government of
Sudan
spokesman
defending
these
statements. A
deliberate
policy of
taking
no prisoners
during armed
conflict
constitutes a
war crime. The
Geneva
Conventions
prohibit
ordering that
there shall be
no
survivors. The
Government of
Sudan must
ensure that
the Sudan
Armed
Forces abide
by
international
humanitarian
law at all
times."
And
so on April 4,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Nesirky about
it
again. This
time, Nesirky
said "there's
a couple of
points
here. There
appears to be
some
controversy
around the
video
itself.... as
a general
principle any
incitement
that could
potentially
lead to war
crimes we
would not
welcome...
There are
already
outstanding
accusation
against Mr.
Harun, that's
within the
bailiwick of
the prosecutor
of the ICC,
it's for them
to deal with
that."
So
that's
why Gaddafi's
"rats" comment
got him into
trouble? He
hadn't yet
been indicted
by the ICC?
This
takes place
in the context
of Ban Ki-moon
being slow to
criticize his
envoy to
Darfur Ibrahim
Gambari for
taking photos
with ICC
indictee Omar
al
Bashir at a
wedding
reception for
Chad's Idriss
Deby and the
daughter
of Musa Hilal,
founder of the
janjaweed
militia. Then
after Ban
issued
wan and
belated
criticism,
and Gambari
said in
essence that
he
would do it
again, Ban
said nothing.
In
further
context, Ban
has had
nothing to say
as Sri Lankan
General
Shavendra
Silva, whose
58th Division
is depicted
engaged in war
crimes in
Ban's
own Panel of
Experts
report, was
named to Ban's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations. It
was a decision
of member
states, Ban
told Inner
City Press,
and nothing
since. From
photos with
Bashir to
no comment on
Silva and now
Harun: this is
Ban's UN.
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