On
Sudan,
As Mbeki Presents Ethiopian Solution, “Somalia-Like”
Mandate in Play?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 20 -- As Thabo Mbeki briefed the UN Security Council
about Abyei in Sudan
on Monday morning, he mentioned that the mandate of the
Ethiopian troops to replace Sudan's forces is still being worked on.
Sources
close to
the negotiations tell Inner City Press that Ethiopia has said it will
not be as “passive” as the UN peacekeepers have been. “Look at
the UN blue helmets,” a source told Inner City Press. “They let
people just take their guns away. Is that a military force?”
Most
recently the
UN forces in Southern Kordofan are reported to have allowed heavy
artillery and anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns to be taken from them.
But
others harken
back to when Ethiopia went into Somalia in 2006, blasting away until
it reached Mogadishu. Is this the solution the UN and Security
Council members want in Abyei?
Mbeki
said he'd met
with Southern Kordofan SPLA leader Al Hilu. As Inner City Press
reported last week, Al Hilu through his spokesman accused the UN
peacekeepers in Kadugli of rape. After first delaying, the UN
subsequently denied the charges, saying that no evidence had come
forward.
But
as Kordofan
sources point out, Hilu is on the run from the forces of Khartoum.
Top UN peacekeepers Alain Le Roy on June 16 told Inner City Press he
hadn't spoken to Al Hilu, then said seeming uncertain that the
Mission (UNMIS) had spoken with Al Hilu about the charges. But had
they? Watch this site.
* * *
UN
Admits
Kadugli Peacekeepers Refused Convoy Escort, France
Downplays It
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
16 -- When the UN Security Council met behind closed
doors Thursday about the humanitarian situation in South
Kordofan,
Sudan, much criticism was directed at the UN Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, whose troops in Kadugli reported declined to
leave their base and do their jobs, as recently happened with the
Zambian peacekeepers in Abyei.
After
the
meeting,
Inner City Press asked DPKO chief Alain Le Roy about the criticism.
He acknowledged that a UN battalion in Kadugli was “not willing to
escort a convoy... there was heavy shelling.”
Moments
later,
Inner
City Press on camera asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud if
the Council discussed if a peacekeeper battalion declined to provide
escort or come out of its base. According to the
French Mission's
transcript, Araud replied that
“a
question was specifically asked whether all the instructions had
[always] been followed. Alain [Le Roy] told us 'yes, they have always
been followed.' The only example - which was an example where the
personnel was requested to evacuate, so it’s not a question of
protection - was when the personnel hesitated for a few hours because
of their own safety on the ground.”
But
Le Roy spoke
about a battalion refusing to escort a convoy, presumably not only of
soldiers. In fact, the UN evacuated -- or relocated, as UN OCHA put
it -- international staff from Kadugli to El Obeid. In any event,
refusing orders to escort a convoy is a “command and control”
problem, as one Council delegation put it.
Some
skeptics
wonder
if the French Mission's and Ambassador's speed to speak on
these issues is entirely attributable to a concern for protection of
civilians, or might involve defending the performance of DPKO whose
past, current and seemingly future chiefs as promised by S-G Ban
Ki-moon seeking a second term are all French.
France's Araud & spokesman point finger, DPKO
top post now shown
Inner
City
Press
asked Le Roy about the safety of Sudanese UN staff, who were not
evacuated by the UN to El Obaid. Le Roy to his credit said that the
UN was trying to contact all of them by radio, but had not been able
to reach those in “downtown Kadugli because we have no access to
downtown Kadugli.”
Some
question
how
UNMIS can be said to be protecting civilians in Kadugli if it has “no
access to downtown Kadugli.” Watch this site.
* * *
As
Sudan
Pulls
US
& UK Diplomats from UN Helicopter, Raising of
Stakes?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
16,
updated -- When a
UN
Mission in Sudan helicopter landed in
White Nile state, the Sudanese government took a US and a UK diplomat
off the plane.
As
described
to
Inner City Press by a spokesman for
the UK Mission to the UN, the Sudanese authorities said they had not
been notified of the flight and therefore questioned its purpose and
passenger list.
Inner
City
Press
asked
US Ambassador Susan Rice about a “US diplomat arrested in
Sudan.” She said, “I don't think that's the right word,” and
went into the Security Council for a closed door meeting about
violence involving the Sudanese Armed Forces and militias and tribes
they support.
A UN helicopter in Sudan
Asked
if
this
detention
should been as a raising of the stakes by Khartoum, the UK
Spokesman told Inner City Press no. He could not name another time
that Sudanese authorities have similarly questioned the use of UNMIS
facilities by UK diplomats, but
posited that the issue was more that the UNMIS helicopter had not given
notice of its landing in Magennes than the identity of the passengers.
* * *
Sudan
Meeting
of
Security
Council
Postponed Amid Addis Ababa Confusion, S. Kordofan
Pull Out UNcommented On
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
13
--
The UN Security Council postponed its June 10
meeting about Sudan and Abyei to the afternoon of June 13, in order
to watch the weekend
meetings
in
Addis
Ababa between Khartoum's Omar
al Bashir and Juba's Salva Kiir. But then the June 13 meeting was
also postponed.
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice tweeted, “UN Security Council watching closely ongoing
negotiations on Sudan in Addis. We will meet when we can assess the
outcome... SAF must immediately end fighting and abuses in Kadugli
and withdraw unconditionally from Abyei.”
Wire
services
were
already
reporting
an agreement on Abyei, for the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) to withdraw and Ethiopian peacekeepers to go in. But
sources in Addis were saying it wasn't really done, that conditions
were being set.
The
stated
purpose of the open Security Council meeting postponed from Monday
was to have each Council member publicly make clear their position.
But what about their positions on the UN's own performance?
Inner
City Press replied to @AmbassadorRice, “The only withdrawing seems
to be by UN from Kadugli. What does the US Mission to the UN think of
UNMIS performance there?” So far there's been no answer.
Susan Rice & French DPR in Rajaf, action on UN
Kadugli pull out not shown
Here
was
the
question
as
put to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin
Nesirky on Monday at noon:
Inner
City
Press:
can
you
confirm that UN staff are being pulled out of
South Kordofan? And do you have any response to the allegations by
their top SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] official in
South Kordofan, Al-Hilu, and his spokesmen that Egyptian peacekeepers
committed rape in South Sudan and that they turned over people to the
Sudanese Armed Forces who were later killed?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
on
that
very last point, allegations that UNMIS has
abandoned — there were reports that we’ve seen refer to one
national staff member and allegations about the UN Mission in Sudan
having abandoned a national staff member who was killed, are simply
completely false and baseless. The Mission will continue to provide
all the protection needed to all the staff, regardless of their
ethnic, religious or political affiliations. And just to be clear,
UNMIS is not evacuating its personnel from Kadugli. However, the
Mission started relocating civilian staff as of today to Khartoum,
including nationals, because they can’t operate in the current
circumstances. And an UNMIS convoy under the escort of Egyptian
peacekeepers was able to reach El-Obeid with its nonessential
international staff. And also, I can tell you that the Mission has
extracted the majority of its national staff from town, and they are
now safe in the Mission compound receiving the necessary assistance.
Question:
No,
no,
and
thanks for that. I was saying, in this Sudan Tribune,
certainly over the weekend, maybe even as much as 24 hours ago, there
are these
quotes by Al-Hilu, who is the one who ran against Ahmed
Haroun --
Spokesperson:
I
heard
what
you said, and what I have responded is the answer that
I have. Okay?
Question:
But
they
seem
to be alleging different things?
Spokesperson:
Well,
as
I
have said, we sought to have guidance from the UN Mission
in Sudan, and they have given as very clear guidance on what is
actually happening.
Question:
And
one
more
thing on Sudan, there is… the SPLM
has
said
that
the
territory of South Sudan has been bombed from the air by Khartoum
using Antonov aircraft; Jau in Unity State. Is that something that
UNMIS has been able to verify or deny?
Spokesperson:
Well,
it
wouldn’t
be for us to deny, I think. But to try to
verify is another matter. I don’t have anything on that at the
moment, but we’re certainly aware of the reports. If my colleagues
have anything further, I am sure that we would be able to provide
that.
More
than
four
hours
later,
no information had been provided. Watch this site.
, 
