At
UN,
As Ban Credits Bassole for Darfur “Progress,” He Left Post on June 8
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 9 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on
June 6 for a second term, he was asked about failing on Darfur,
one
of his top two stated priorities in his first term. Ban replied that
process is accelerating, and credited Joint Chief Mediator Djibril
Bassole.
On
June 9, Inner
City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: if I understood it correctly Mr. Djibril Bassolé was
described as stepping down as the joint AU/UN mediator. But he has
since been quoted as saying he remains a mediator. And he did go to
these Doha talks. So, is he the UN’s mediator or not? It’s
unclear. He says that he is, but it was said here that he is not. Which
is it?
Spokesperson:
I think it was also said here that he has a split role at the moment
and will continue to — was continuing, I should say — was
continuing to serve as one of the mediators in the run-up to the
meeting that you spoke about. But there will be a change in that
status, and I think I’ll be able to give you precisely what that
change is after this.
Just
after the
briefing ended, Nesirky said he would look into it. Later this was
added to the UN's transcript:
[The
Spokesperson’s
Office later said that Djibril Bassole’s contract
as a United Nations-African Union envoy ended Wednesday, 8 June.]
So
Ban's man on
Darfur is no longer in the post.
Ban and Bassole, left Darfur post June 8 with a whimper
And where do
we stand? Rebels
supporting Minni Minawai and Abdel Wahid al Nur did not sign onto the
recent Doha process. The head of the joint UN - AU peacekeeping
mission UNAMID, Ibrahim
Gambari, is often in New York, most recently listed as giving
a
speech in Connecticut on June 4. What is the UN doing in Darfur? It
is not clear. Watch this site.
* * *
After
Sudan
Air
Strikes on Darfur, UN Initially Declines to Condemn, Finally Gambari
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
16 -- With reports off Sudan's government bombing and
killing 13 civilians in South Darfur over the weekend, Inner City
Press at Monday's UN noon briefing asked spokesman Martin Nesirky
what envoy Ibrahim Gambari of UNAMID had to say about the bombings.
Nesirky
pulled
out
a piece of paper and read out that UNAMID could confirm air
strikes on two villages by the Sudanese Air Force.
The
UN's growing
silence on these issues led Inner City Press to asked, does the UN
view it as legitimate in Sudan for the government to bomb civilians?
Nesirky
wouldn't
say,
replied only “I've answered your question.”
By
contrast,
Nesirky on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon alleged that
then-leader of Cote d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo was importing helicopters
from Belarus, without having any confirmation at all.
On
Darfur, Nesirky
did not disclose the UN's awareness of government air strikes until
asked, and then declined to condemn the strikes. There is a mounting
history of government air strikes on Darfur, well documented at
http://www.sudanbombing.org/,
on
which the UN has remained increasingly silent.
Update:
later,
Nesirky's
office sent Inner City Press the following:
Subject:
Your
questions
on Darfur
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at]
un.org
Date: Mon, May 16, 2011
To: Matthew.Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
Following
your
questions
on Darfur at noon, please note the following, just
issued by UNAMID:
UNAMID
Chief
deeply
troubled over recent air strikes in South Darfur
El
Fasher,
16
May 2011— African Union - United Nations Mission in
Darfur (UNAMID) Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari is
deeply concerned over recent air strikes in South Darfur.
The
aerial
attacks,
carried out yesterday by Sudanese Forces, affected
the population of Labado town and Esheraya village, located 30km
south of El Daein.
While
the
number
of casualties and possible displacements cannot yet be
accurately determined, the Mission is nevertheless troubled at the
actions carried out by the Sudanese Air Force.
“Civilians
are invariably the real and most numerous victims in any conflict. I
call upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint in the use of
lethal force. All belligerents have a moral responsibility and
obligation to respect humanitarian law and the rights of the innocent
caught in the violence,” said JSR Gambari. At present, the Mission
is sending teams to the locations to investigate the incidents.
Watch
this
site.
* * *
UN
Admits
2d
Flight
of
ICC
Darfur
Indictee
Haroun
to
Abyei
in Sudan, Impunity
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
4,
updated -- The UN
has for a second time offered a free UN
flight in Sudan to Ahmed Haroun, under indictment by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, the UN
admitted Friday in response to questions from Inner City Press.
On
March 3 the UN
Security Council met about renewed fighting in the disputed Abyei
region. Back in January, Inner City Press got the UN to acknowledge
they had flown ICC indictee Haroun from South Kordofan, where he
serves fellow ICC indictee Omar al Bashir as governor, to Abyei.
The
UN has defended
this controversial flight by saying that Haroun and Haroun alone
could stop violence in Abyei. The UN never explained why the
government of Sudan, which has an air force currently bombing civilians
in Jebel Marra in Darfur, couldn't itself fly Haroun.
The
UN said it was
a scheduled flight, then UN Mission in Sudan chief Haile Menkerios
admitted to
Inner City Press that it was a special flight. Inner City Press is
told such flights cost $40,000, and the UN has confirm no
reimbursement has been sought from the Bashir government.
But
now the
violence has continued, making the UN flight of ICC indictee Haroun
harder to justify even by the UN's own argument.
March
3
in
front
of
the
Security
Council,
Inner
City
Press
asked Council president for
March Li Baodong of China if the UN Peacekeeping official who briefed
the Council, Atul Khare, had mentioned if Haroun would again be flown
in a UN helicopter. Li Baodong did not directly answer.
At
the March 4 UN
noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm or deny that that the UN would
once again fly ICC indictee Haroun to Abyei, even now that his work in
connection with the first flight has proved ineffective.
Nesirky
said
he
would
check.
Ten
minutes
later,
Nesirky's
deputy
Farhan
Haq announced
by speaker to all UN correspondents that yes, Haroun attended today's
meeting in Abyei, and yes, “he was transported” by the UN.
This
UN
promotes
impunity,
even
for
one
of
the
few
people
indicted for war crimes by
the ICC. Meanwhile Ban Ki-moon brags about the Security Council's partial
referral of the situation in Libya to the ICC -- a referral that Ban
Ki-moon did not even call for until after the Council voted to make
the referral.
This
UN
is
promoting
and
enshrining
lawlessness,
with
no
transparency
or
accountability.
Watch this site.
Update
of 3:48 pm -- Human Rights Watch, via Richard Dicker, submitted
this
comment:
“This
is the second time in recent weeks the UN has transported Ahmed
Haroun who is charged by the ICC with war crimes in Darfur. We have
real concerns because the U.N. should not be in the business of
transporting Haroun. There needs to be an extremely high threshold of
urgency for such action by UNMIS.”
Responses
have
been
sought
from
the
Missions
to
the
UN
of
France, the UK and the US,
with the latter two asked if they knew in advance of the UN's new
flight of ICC indictee Haroun. Given her
statements
this
year
about
social
media, & after hours of non-response by the US Mission
to the UN,@AmbassadorRice
has been asked directly as well. Watch
this site.
Update
of
4:30
pm
--
Then
this,
from
UK
Mission
to
the UN spokesman Daniel
Shepherd:
“As
spokesperson, I would only reiterate the message that my two
Ambassadors have both said on the record (and published by Inner City
Press) first time around: that we aren’t going to second guess how
UNMIS fulfills its mandate to provide good offices to the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) parties in efforts to resolve
differences through dialogue and negotiations. I’d only add that
this work is particularly important at this sensitive time, to
contain any potential escalation after the recent Abyei violence.”
We could
note
again that violence has persisted despite the UN flying ICC indictee
Ahmed Haroun in the first time, and that it is the role of UN member
states to oversee the UN Secretariat, not to defer in this case to
what some see as its promotion of impunity - but at least the UK
would put its position on the record.
Update
of
4:43
pm
--
this
too
has
come
in,
perhaps
in response:
Date:
Fri,
Mar
4,
201
Subject: Haroun and Abyei
To: Matthew.Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
You
guys
ask
great
questions!
Have
you
noticed
perhaps
that
the
United
Nations seems to be unaware of who is causing the violence in Abyei.
And yet "diplomatic sources" report seeing the burial of 33
bodies - all southerners.
The
Arab
nomads
say
the
violence
started
when
SPLM
police
shot
at them
(Hitler used a similar ploy to invade Poland) - and today thousands
of civilians fled Abyei fearing another crisis like in June 2008. The
Dinka Ngok villages north of Abyei, such as Maker, have been
burnt to the ground. The end explains the means. There is a
creeping ethnic cleansing going on in the Abyei region despite the
agreements of 2005 and the Court of Arbitration ruling in 2010.
Why
fly
Haroun
to
Abyei
-
what
is
his
cv?
It
is, as you correctly point
out, that of arming arab militias to burn villages. I hope to see
more of your questions pinning the UN to the responsibility to
protect.
, 
