UNITED
NATIONS, June
21 – In Sudan,
International
Criminal Court
indictee
Ali Kushayb
continues
killing in
Darfur and the
SPLM-North
rebels
shell Kadugli,
recently
killing a UN
peacekeeper
there.
In
New York, the
International
Crisis Group,
Human Rights
Watch and
Amnesty
International
held a join
press
conference on
Friday.
On
Kushayb, Inner
City Press
asked HRW's
Jehanne Henry
about the UNAMID
peacekeeping
mission
responding on
June 5 that
“fighting
between
Miseria and
Salamat tribes
took place
[but] UNAMID
has not
observed
Muhammad Ali
Abdel-Rahman
(also known as
Ali Kushayb)
in Darfur.”
Henry
replied that
while UNAMID
has a strong
protection of
civilians
mandate, it is
not fulfilling
this mandate,
there are many
examples
and this is
just one. Video
here, from
Minute 27:13.
We
have noted in
the past a
reticence by
HRW to
criticize the
UN.
Perhaps
because UNAMID
is a hybrid
mission with
the African
Union, it
is different?
One wonders:
when Ken Roth
met with Ban
Ki-moon, was
the weakness
of UNAMID
brought up?
And
why has HRW
said so little
about DPKO's Herve Ladsous' lack of
communication
and action
about the
rapes in
Minova by two
units of
the Congolese
Army he
continues to
support?
About
Ladsous'
proposed
use
of the Chadian
Army, on the
UN's list of
child soldier
recruiters,
in the MINUSMA
mission in
Mali – which
not only
Watchlist
but also
WorldVisior
have
criticized?
On
the evening
of June 20,
Inner City
Press asked
top UN
Humanitarian
Valerie Amos
about
Amnesty's
report on Blue
Nile; she
said that
Sudan
is offering to
let aid in
“cross line”
but is opposed
to cross
border entry
from South
Sudan, which
the SPLM-North
is insisting
on.
The
question is
whether the
insistence on
cross border
aid is, as in
Syria, used
for political
purposes by
some.
Renzo
Pomi of
Amnesty
declined to
get into
cross-border
aid, saying it
is
being
discussed but
not yet put on
paper. He
noted
divisions in
the
UN Security
Council, and
said he'd more
closely review
what Amos
answered
Thursday
night. We'll
await that.
The Amnesty
report,
including
recommendations
to
international
NGOs and UN
agencies, is
online here.
EJ
Hogendoorn of
the
International
Crisis Group
said if the
aid into
Blue Nile
couldn't be
cross-line, it
should be
cross border.
He said
this might be
possible from
Ethiopia,
which would be
less
problematic
for Sudan.
One
wonders how
the killing of
an Ethiopian
peacekeeper in
Kadugli,
pretty clearly
by the
SPLM-North,
will impact
Ethiopia's
positions on
Sudan and
South Sudan.
The
Ethiopia idea
was something
new, at least
in UN world –
just as
when ICG's
Comfort Ero
told Inner
City Press of
Mali, “there
must
be a
willingness to
include all
armed groups
at table if
they are
willing to end
armed
struggle.”
That
was not
pen-holder
France's
thinking; Ero
was also
willing to
publicly note
that Romano
Prodi
with his Sahel
report had
been slow. Now
that it's out
– and
underwhelming
– we'll be
writing on
that soon.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
In
a note
on the ICG /
Ero press
conference on
Mali, the
UN
Correspondents
Association
and some of
its Executive
Committee
members' attempt
to get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
was
reviewed.
On Friday, the
first question
went to UNCA,
taken by a
person who
lost when
running for
the Executive
Committee.
We've said
it before:
given the
payment of
dues, this
amounts to
questions
being
for sale at
the UN. So
says the FREE
UN Coalition
for Access,
now tweeting
questions,
often from
journalists
denied access
or answers by
the UN, from
@FUNCA_info.
Onward.
, 
