As
UN
Council Cancels Abyei Trip, Georgian Echoes Amid AU Diagnosis of
Narcissism
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 22 -- What does it say about the UN Security Council
that outright war broke out in Abyei between North and Southern Sudan
just as the Council prepared to visit the contested area?
Before
the Council
members left New York for Addis Ababa then Sudan, they negotiated the
“logistics” of visiting Abyei while attempting to downplay the
possibility of Ahmed Haroun, National Congress Party governor of
South Kordofan and International Criminal Court indictee, showing up
to greet and try to meet them on the way to Abyei.
UN
officials told
Inner City Press confidently “we can definitely protect the Council
in Abyei, it's only a question of landing first at the airport in
Kadugli or Wau.”
Things
change,
obviously. But why? An Council member left unnamed is quoted that the
North invaded Abyei in order to discourage the Council's visit. Beyond
what some see as the narcissism of the statement, even if
true, would this mean that the Council's visit inflamed rather than
de-escalated tensions?
When
President
Barack Obama's Press Secretary said on May 21 that the initial May 19
attack in Abyei was the responsibility of “Southern Forces” but
drew a disproportionate response, it brought to mind the Georgian -
Russian conflict in which Georgia is said to have tried to retake
South Ossetia, then Russia rumbled down into Georgia itself.
In
hindsight, some
say Georgia erred in giving Russia the pretext to take land. So
might the “attack by Southern forces” of May 19 be viewed in
somewhat the same way?
Susan Rice at Khartoum airport May 21 - in
October, confronted Sudan about $15 fee
Or
is Southern
Sudan smarter than Georgia, triggering a response from Khartoum,
under the nose of the Security Council, that will meaningfully
rebound against Omar al Bashir, Haroun and the National Congress
Party? Watch this site.
Footnote:
In
the Addis Ababa leg of the Council's trip, Ramtane Lamamra of the
African Union derided the Council for overriding the AU in
authorizing and not stopping the continued bombing of Libya by NATO.
While numerous Council members including two with veto power agree
that action has gone beyond Resolution 1973, others note that
Lamamra's from Algeria, more supportive of Gaddafi than most AU
members...
* * *
As
UN
Won't Blame for Abyei Violence, Council Visit in Doubt, Haroun
Looms
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 20 -- As the UN Security Council mission approaches
Sudan, its long planned stopover in Abyei is in doubt.
A
Council
Permanent Representative predicted to Inner City Press on Friday that
Abyei “will be canceled,” leaving only Khartoum and Juba in
Sudan. Darfur was already left out of the trip.
As
Inner City
Press exclusively reported, Sudan and some Council
members pointed to
the claimed electoral win as South Kordofan government of Ahmed
Haroun as a militating against the Council refusing to meet with
Haroun, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes
in Darfur.
French
Permanent
Representative Gerard Araud told Inner City Press, “We will not
meet with him.”
But
another
Permanent Representative, pointing to Haroun's win and “the UN
welcoming” it, asked on what basis other Council memberswould avoid
the governor of a state they sought to visit.
Now
despite
earlier claims that UN Peacekeeping could safety get the ambassadors
to Abyei via the Wau or Kadugli airports, the talk is of canceling
the Abyei leg of the trip.
Also being
cited is recent fighting in
Abyei -- fighting which even those the UN peacekeepers were right
there to witness they are declining to assign any blame for.
* * *
As
Sudan
Asks
Why Haroun Shouldn't Meet UN Council,
Journalists Detained
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
19 -- With the UN Security
Council en route to Africa,
their possible encounter in Sudan with Ahmed Haroun, indicted by
the
International Criminal Court for war cimres in Darfur, remains a wild
card.
On
May 18 French
Ambassador Gerard Araud told Inner City Press, when asked about
Haroun, that “we will not meet with him.”
But
a Sudanese
diplomat on May 19 asked Inner City Press, “Why not? He was just
legitimately elected.” The diplomat pointed at the statement by UN
Mission in Sudan chief Haile Menkerios welcoming the election on
South Kordofan.
At
the UN's noon
briefing on May 19 Inner City Press asked
UN
spokesman Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
on this trip, there are conflicting reports in Sudan
about whether the trip includes a stop in Kadugli and Abyei, and
whether they will meet with Ahmed Haroun, who is indicted by the ICC
[International Criminal Court]. So I wanted to know, you’d said
there is more information, I’d try to pass through and see it, but
it has… what is the status of, even just the logistics, is the
Council in fact going to Abyei via Kadugli and is… will Mr. Haroun
be present?
Spokesperson:
I
think that’s a good idea; pass by and we can give you more
details. But to my knowledge, there is no meeting planned with Mr.
Haroun, to my knowledge.
Planning
is
one
thing, and the presence at the airport of the Governor of South
Kordofan, declared winner of an election praised by the UN, is
another.
The
UN belated
provided Inner City Press with this response about journalists
detained for covering the election:
From:
UN
Spokesperson
- Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Thu, May 19, 2011
at 4:21 PM
Subject: Your question on journalists in Sudan
To:
Matthew.Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Regarding
your
question
about the arrests of two journalists in Sudan (Mohamed
El Fateh Himma and Rushan Aoushi) on 14 May 2011 in Jebel Awlia
(Khartoum State): The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has followed up on
that matter with its sources on the ground.
The
Mission
learned
that the two journalists were reportedly returning
from Southern Kordofan State when they were stopped on the road by
Sudanese Armed Forces Military Intelligence at around 08:00 on 14
May. The journalists were then transferred to the custody of the
National Security Service (NSS), which reportedly interrogated them.
The two journalists were released by the National Security Service
without charge after approximately ten hours.
And
that was the
entire response. The UN apparently has no comment on this. 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.
, 
