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UN in S. Kordofan Confirms 19 Murders, Won't Say if Harun Did It: Flights Continue?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- Amid the killing in Sudan, the UN has two $1 billion peacekeeping operations but refuses to answer basic questions about who is killing whom, much less stopping it.

While numerous questions about Darfur that Inner City Press has asked the UN -- bombing of clinics by the government, alleged laying of land mies -- have gone unanswered, on April 29 the UN did send an answer to a question asked nine day previous about South Kordofan (see below).

The problem is, after more than a week, the UN could or would not provide any information about who was responsible for the killing of at least 19 civilians there. In fact, the person accused is Ahmed Harun, who despite being indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur has been flown in UN helicopters to Abyei at least twice.

In the middle of April, Inner City Press began asking about allegations that Harun had just organized a militia to attack El-Faid Um Abdullah, the home village of his deputy governor in South Kordofan, Abdelaziz al-Hilu. The accusation was made by the deputy governor himself:

“Abdelaziz al-Hilu accused governor Ahmed Harun, who is from a rival party and will contest local elections against him on May 2, of 'organizing an attack by the Popular Defence Forces on my village, El-Faid Um Abdullah. They killed more than 20 people and burned between 300 and 500 houses in the early morning. Two women and four children were among those who burned inside the houses,' he said.”

Inner City Press asked US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, and then UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq on April 20:

Inner City Press: On Sudan, there is this report from the Deputy Governor of South Kordofan, saying that the popular defence force attacked his village, killed 20 people. And he blames it on Ahmed Haroun… in fact the Governor, the Khartoum-backed Governor of the state. So, it’s a pretty high-profile person accusing him of being behind this attack, and I wonder, does UNMIS, what have they done in terms of investigating Mr. Haroun’s role, given that they have been flying Mr. Haroun as an ostensible peacemaker to Abyei?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: I was told that UNMIS has gone to this area in Southern Kordofan, and it is trying to obtain more information about what’s been going on there.

For more than a week, there was no answer from the UN spokesperson's office. In the interim, Inner City Press asked number two UN Peacekeeping official Atul Khare, and US Ambassador Susan Rice about it.

Khare said that the killing including “inter alia women and children,” in “the village of the deputy governor.” He said the UN would be paying more attention to the area, mentioning humanitarian issues.

  But what about investigating Abdelaziz al-Hilu's claim that Ahmed Harun was involved? If the UN confirmed this, could or would they keep flying Harun around on UN helicopters?

Ban & Khare, murders by and flights to Ahmed Harun not shown

As US Ambassador Susan Rice left a UN Security Council meeting on April 20, Inner City Press asked her if the new charges against Harun should end the UN's flights for Harun. "He was already indicted," Rice said. "At this point the concern is constant."

  But has the US spoken against the UN flying Harun? Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the US Mission for a comment, without receiving any.

Finally on April 28 leaving another session about UN Peacekeeping, Inner City Press asked an official of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations about the failure to answer questions, not only about South Kordofan but also Darfur.

While the Darfur questions still remain unresponded to, on April 29 the following was sent:

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply <unspokesperson-donotreply@un.org>
Date: Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 10:54 AM
To: Matthew Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Subject: Your question on Southern Kordofan

The upcoming elections in Southern Kordofan, which are to commence on 2 May, are of importance to both parties and the increase in violence is of great concern to us. The National Congress Party/Southern Sudan People's Liberation Moverment partnership was a stabilising factor over the last two years but since this election will influence Southern Kordofan’s political balance of power, the rhetoric of the election campaign has been increasingly aggressive. As a result, on 13 April 2011, four predominantly Nuba villages within the Locality of Al Rashad (200 kms NE of Kadugli) were targeted, resulting in the death of 19 persons (3 children, 4 females, 12 males) and the injury of 29 (3 females, 24 males).

Not only is this response 16 days after the fact, and nine days after the question was asked -- it also make no effort to identify who is responsible. Since the person accused is one whom the UN has flown around in a helicopter to meet with the type of nomadic tribes accused of murder, shouldn't the UN want to know, and be required to disclose? Watch this site.

Footnote: On the Doha process on Darfur, after Djibril Bassole announced it would become foreign minister of post-mutiny Burkina Faso, Inner City Press asked the UN if he would be allowed to stay on as mediator, as he reportedly wanted. Finally the UN squawked an answer, that he would end as mediator on April 30. This is how Khartoum wants it.

A top UN peacekeeping official told Inner City Press that Bassole will attend the upcoming session in Doha, but only as foreign minister of Burkina Faso for its involvement in the process. This too is how Khartoum wants it. Watch this site.