On
Darfur,
UN Confirms Amos Meeting Canceled, Blames IDP Splits Not
Sudan Arrests
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 8 -- With UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos
in Darfur's Al Salam camp for internally displaced person, it was
reported
that camp leaders canceled a meeting with her out of fear. A
month after the UN Security Council visited the Abu Shouk camp and
spoke with IDPs, two were arrested and others harassed.
On
November 8,
Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman
Martin Nesirky if Ban's Peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy, or Darfur
Mission chief Ibrahim Gambari, had in the month since gotten any
closer to confirming or denying that those arrested met or planed the
meeting with the Council on October 8. Video here.
Nesirky
said he
had no information on any confirmation, but that he would seek to
clarify Amos' remark, quoted by Inner City Press, that “I
hope that
there is no fear” -- that is, of renewed harassment or arrest by
Sudanese authorities.
Four
hours later,
the UN provided Inner City Press with an answer that confirms that
Amos' meeting with sheikhs was canceled, but blames the IDPs
themselves and not any fear of government harassment for the
cancellation:
Subject:
Your
question on Valerie Amos in Sudan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do
Not Reply
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Date: Mon,
Nov 8, 2010 at 4:48 PM
Valerie
Amos
did speak to two women at the Al Salam camp. But two of her
meetings with camp elders could not take place. This failure to meet
reflects the divisions in political opinions among IDPs and their
subsequent inability to come up with an agreed message for Amos.
Contrast
that UN
answer -- it is not clear who wrote it -- with this
article , by
Radio Netherlands citing AFP, and ask which is more credible...
UNAMID patrols, UN's erasure of or action on "fear" not shown
“Leaders
at a refugee camp in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region refused on Sunday
to meet visiting United Nations aid chief Valerie Amos, an AFP
correspondent reported.... On Sunday at Camp al-Salam on the
outskirts of El-Fasher, the capital of the western region of Darfur,
elders scrapped a planned meeting with Amos without giving reasons
for their decision.
“'I
hope that there is no fear,' Amos told reporters after the camp
leaders failed to show up for their meeting. 'My understanding is
that there are a number of issues that the sheikhs would like to
raise with me, and they have said that they would raise them with me
the way they wish,' she added.”
The
statement
provided later to Inner City Press by the UN does not explain Amos
saying “I hope that there is no fear.” Watch this site.
* * *
On
S.
Sudan
Referendum, EU Countries Behind on Funding Pledges, Speak of
Delay
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
5 -- With shooting and kidnappings continuing in
Darfur, the Sudanese government has reportedly taken to conditioning
medical care in Khartoum to those from South Sudan upon their voting
for unity and not separation in the referendum scheduled for January
9.
Inner
City Press
asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about this and kidnappings in
Darfur on November 5 and was, again, promised future answers.
Meanwhile, Inner City Press got a read out of which countries have
actually followed through on their pledges to the Basket Fund for the
referendum, and which have not.
Sweden
has
pledged $6.76 million but has so far given nothing.
Likewise,
there
has been no follow through yet on these pledges: European Union $4.23
million, Denmark $3.38 million, Australia $2.69 million.
The
UK
remains $3.87 million short of its pledge.
France
has not paid
ANY of
the mere $600,000 it pledged.
One
wonders what
these countries, which say the referendum is so important, are
waiting from. Privately diplomats from several of these countries
tell the Press that the planned South Sudan referendum will nearly
certainly have to be postponed, and that their work consists of
trying to convince the South Sudanese not to then go ahead and hold
their own referendum.
They also
express concern that once Khartoum
learns they are okay with a date later from January 9, the new date
will become a new target to go past and delay.
In S. Sudan, UK PR, France DPR, follow through on
funding not yet shown
Here
is the table
of pledges and actual contributions to the Basket Fund for the south
Sudan Referendum, followed by the UN's transcript of its November 5
noon briefing:
|
No.
|
Donor
|
Amount
($
million) Committed
|
Amount
($ million) Received
|
|
1
|
Netherlands
|
$14.00
|
$7.00
|
|
|
|
2
|
Norway
|
$4.78
|
$4.78
|
|
3
|
Canada (CIDA)
|
$6.86
|
$6.86
|
|
4
|
Sweden
|
$6.76
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
European Union
|
$4.23
|
|
|
6
|
Japan
|
$8.17
|
$8.17
|
|
7
|
DFID
|
$11.63
|
$7.76
|
|
|
|
8
|
Denmark
|
$3.38
|
|
|
9
|
Australia
|
$2.69
|
|
|
10
|
France
|
$0.60
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
$63.10
|
$34.57
|
Source: UNDP response to Inner City Press 11/10
question
UN's
transcription
of
its November 5 noon briefing:
Inner
City
Press:
there are also these reports of three pilots from a
Latvian helicopter company working for WFP [World Food Programme]
that have been taken hostage. Can you confirm that? And there seems
to be some unclarity about what country they are from or who took
them. What’s the UN going to do?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
I can confirm that three crew members working for the
United Nations Humanitarian Air Service contracted to the World Food
Programme, as you mentioned, were abducted in Nyala town on Thursday.
They are all Latvian nationals and are helicopter crewmen. And we
don’t have any more information at this point.
Inner
City
Press:
Thanks. The SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement]
is saying that… they have come out with an allegation that
Southerners who live in the North are being told, in Government
medical facilities, are being told they’ll only get medical
treatment if they vote for unity. I wonder if it’s something…
it’s in the Sudan Tribune and I am assuming elsewhere. I am
wondering if that’s something… I guess that would be an UNMIS
[United Nations Mission in Sudan] issue, or perhaps… whether the UN
system is aware of that allegation, what they think of it, if it is
true and what they are doing to find out if it is true?
Spokesperson:
Well,
at the very least, if they are reading the Sudan Tribune like
you, they will have seen the same reports and I would assume that
they are doing so. We will need to check whether they have further
information that was not in this Sudan Tribune. But, I don’t have
that right now.
Inner
City
Press:
Okay. No, no, I mean I am pretty sure they would be
aware of this, I just wonder if this is the type of thing that they
feel a duty to investigate to see if it’s true or to make some
statement about.
Spokesperson:
As
I say, let’s first establish what they know about it.
We'll
see. Watch
this site.
, 
