As
Khartoum
Floats Aid Cut Off, Juba Says Harun Should Be In The Hague, Not El
Obeid, UN Flew Him, Says All Is Fine
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 20, updated -- Amid reports of ethnic cleansing in Southern
Kordofan as well as Abyei, the UN Security Council assembled in its
chamber at 10 am on Monday for a briefing by video from Addis Ababa
by mediator Thabo Mbeki and UN Mission in Sudan chief Haile
Menkerios.
After
a delay,
Mbeki appeared on screen to describe a just-signed agreement on
Abyei, and predict that one will be reached on Southern Kordofan.
Ethiopian troops will be sent into Abyei, after Security Council
authorization of the deployment and, it seems, an understanding
about
“Somalia-style” rules of engagement.
After
the
briefing, the Ambassador of Sudan, following by the South Sudan
representative, came to the stakeout to take Press questions. Inner
City Press asked the National Congress Party's Permanent
Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman about his statement that
humanitarian aid to Southern
Kordofan “might” be restored shortly -- was this an admission
that it has been cut off, and food used as a weapon?
He
blamed it on
the SPLA, and said that they had tried to install Al Hilu “who lost
the election” as governor of South Kordofan. Video here.
Moments
later, the
representative of Southern Sudan Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth told Inner City
Press that Ahmed Harun the supposed
winner of the Southern Kordofan election, which the UN praised,
doesn't even come from Southern Kordofan, has fled to El Obeid and
“should be in the Hague” for war crimes. Video here.
Since
the UN has
in fact offered helicopter flights to Harun, who is indicted by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, Inner City
Press asked the South Sudan representative if he thought the UN
should arrest Harun, rather than flying him around. “He should be
in the Hague,” he repeated.
![](un1gatkouth.jpg)
Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth
at stakeout, Haroun not shown
With
these deep
disagreements, it is difficult to know what to make of the 10 page
Abyei agreement announced with such fanfare by Mbeki and the UNMIS'
Menkerios. He has been in Addis for day, meanwhile UNMIS has been
“categorically denying” it did anything wrong on Southern
Kordofan. This UN's reflexive denial undermines its credibility.
In
the middle of
the Security Council debate, Inner City Press ran through the UN's
garage to the day's noon briefing. But neither of the two Sudan
questions put to Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky got answered.
Confirm or deny The Guardian / Observer's report that UNMIS in
Kordofan lost control of its weapons -- Nesirky said he'd look into
it.
In
Darfur, over
the weekend Inner City Press asked the spokesperson both for UNAMID
and the UN World Food Program to confirm or deny a report that the UN
stopped delivering food to IDPs in El Geneina. Neither responded,
and neither did Nesirky at Monday's noon briefing.
And
now the UN
peacekeeping presence in Abyei is being jettisoned for a different
one, from Ethiopia. And in Southern Kordofan? Watch this site.
Footnote: Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth
presented to Inner City Press this timeline: South Sudan will formally
declare independence on July 9, followed by Security Council vote-in as
a state on July 13, and General Assembly on July 14. We'll be here.
Update
of 4 pm: Later, this arrived:
Subject:
Your
question on Darfur and Sudan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not
Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 3:45 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
The
World
Food Programme has confirmed that the food distributions to El
Geneina are on track, and any reports suggesting that such
distributions have stopped are inaccurate.
As
for
any reports of UNMIS losing control of heavy weaponry, UNMIS does
not have heavy weapons. Its weaponry includes AK-47s and armoured
personnel carriers.
The
first answer,
then, has the UN denying in entirety a story (with quotes) from
Radio
Dabanga. The second denied a story in The Guardian about Southern
Kordofan, on which WFP has separately told Inner City Press that
“On
Kadugli, we still have not been able to obtain access to our
warehouse. However we have received assurances from the local
authorities that our food is intact.”
And
so it goes at
the UN.
* * *