On
Afghanistan,
De Mistura “Not Giving Up” on Maxwell, Mazar
Killings
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 6 -- After UN Envoy to Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura
finished briefing the Security Council on Wednesday, he glanced at
the media stakeout and, apparently deciding there was not enough
interest for him to speak, headed out of the building. Inner City
Press pursued him to the resolving door then swiped him and a
colleague through.
On
the other side
Inner City Press asked, what follow up has there been on the murder
of UN staff member Louis Maxwell, as well as on those of UN staff
in
Mazar e Sharif in April?
De
Mistura said
“thank you for asking. I am not giving up. We are still urging a
follow up, from the FBI... and on Mazar we are preparing our own
report and asking the Afghans to follow up... we are urging,
pushing... we didn't get the final response from the Afghans about
their own response.”
Inner
City Press
asked, “Does the impending pullout make it more likely --
“More
likely,” Di Mistura cut in. “There are certain issues that we
consider non-closed.”
De Mistura in the mist, Afghan action on Maxwell
& Mazar not shown
The
allegation
in
the murder of Louis Maxwell is that Afghan national forces did it.
Earlier
on
Wednesday, Inner City Press asked UN Women chief Michelle Bachelet
what the UN has done on women's
rights in Afghanistan. Her answer
veered from leadership capacity to “supporting and funding safe
houses and shelters.” We'll see.
* * *
Convenient
Silence
on
Afghan Human Rights, Strategic Speech in Pakistan
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
4 -- As the US prepares to pull back from Afghanistan,
moving at the UN to make it easier to take Taliban off the sanctions
list and encouraging Hamid Karzai to negotiate with them, what is the
place of women's rights and human rights more generally?
While
in
Washington
there is much telegenic hand-wringing on the topic -- for
example, last month Af-Pak czar Douglas Lute had himself filmed
providing assurances of US commitment to a delegation of professional
Afghan women some of whom worked for the UN -- the US embassy in
Kabul is surprisingly quiet.
Perhaps
this
is
just diplomacy, of a decidedly realist bend: don't highlight Western
ideas
of human rights in a country where the US wants to say that its
massive military spending has resulted in enough improvements to
leave. Some contrast this with the US
embassy
in Pakistan's June 26
LGBT event. Why not hold that in Kabul? Or Baghdad, for that
matter?
And why not actually offer US asylum to those facing imprisonment and
death due to discrimination?
Lutes in Congress, Af and Pak contrast not explained
The
wider
international community, too, seems quite prepared to let bygones be
bygones in Afghanistan. After UN staff member Louis Maxwell was
executed, by Afghan national forces, the UN has never pushed the
Karzai government to conduct the investigation a UN panel called for.
More
recently,
after
seven
UN
staff were killed by protesters in Mazar-i-Sharif in
April, there has been very little follow-up by the UN. And where is
the new head of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, on the topic of women's
rights in Afghanistan as the US and other powers pull out? We'll see.
* * *
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.
, 
in