At
UN
on Sudan, No Comment on Torture or Undercutting ICC,
Turabi Arrest
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 18 -- As the UN and its Security Council heaped
praise on the government of Omar al Bashir for the Southern Sudan
referendum, the UN had no comment on Bashir officials' torture of
Darfur activists and detention of (Islamist) opposition figure Hassan
al-Turabi.
Inner
City Press
asked UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky about the reported torture of the
editor of Al Sahafa newspaper, and Turabi's arrest. On the torture,
Nesirky said he would have to check, presumably with Ibrahim Gambari.
On the latter, Nesirky said “I think we'll be able to say something
a little later.”
Running
to the
Security Council stake out, Inner City Press asked Sudan's Ambassador
Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali
Osman about Turabi's
arrest. “Let me ask you a question,” Sudan's
Ambassador replied, blaming the arrest on a call for Tunisia like
demonstrations.
Inner
City Press
asked him why his government had not flown International Criminal
Court indictee Ahmed Haroun to Abyei rather than having the UN do it.
He first
claimed not to know of Haroun's trip. Then to an Inner City
Press follow up he said, the UN is not an off shoot of the ICC.
When
UK Ambassador
Mark Lyall Grant took questions some days ago, Inner City Press asked
him about the UN Mission in Sudan under Haile Menkerios using a UN
aircraft to transport ICC indictee Haroun.
I am not
going to second
guess the UN, Lyall Grant said. So much for overseeing the UN's
compliance not only with human rights standards but even the
Council's mandates.
UN's Ban & Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali Osman - UN flying Haroun not shown
Inner
City Press
asked this month's Council president, Bosnia's Ambassador Barbalic,
about the UN flying Haroun around, even the Council's Press
Statement's reference to holding accountable those responsible for
crimes in Darfur. That was not discussed today, he answered and said,
I do not have the information.
After
the Council
meeting, Inner City Press asked top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy about
the UN flying ICC indictee Haroun into Abyei. Le Roy at least
acknowledged being aware of the criticism, but said that getting
Haroun there to speak with normadic tribes was the focus.
But
Sudan has its
own airforce, which uses to bomb. That Haroun set up a TV interview
for the airport at which he landed in the UN plane does not appear to
be a coincidence. The UN was used to undercut the war crimes
indictments. And the UN says nothing about it. Watch this site.
* * *
As
UN
Admits
Transporting
ICC Indictee Harun to Abyei, NGOs & US Have Yet
to
Speak
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
11
-- The UN Mission in Sudan transported and
assisted International Criminal Court indictee Ahmed Harun, UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed to Inner City Press on Tuesday,
because the UN finds Harun helpful in dealing with violence in Abyei.
Nesirky implied that the UN will continue to transport
Harun, saying that the UN "will continue to provide necessary support
to key players." Video
here,
from
Minute
13:48.
Inner
City
Press
asked
why the UN transported Harun, not only in light of his ICC
indictment for war crimes in Darfur, but also of the capacities
of
the Sudanese Air Force, which has recently conducted bombing raids
in
and near Southern Sudan.
If
the Sudanese
Air Force can bomb, Inner City Press asked, why can't it fly Harun to
Abyei? Nesirky did not answer this question. Nor would he tell Inner
City Press if UNMIS, led by Haile Menkerios, had checked with UN
Headquarters' Office of Legal Affairs or Ban Ki-moon before
transporting an indicted war criminal.
It
seems to some
that the Sudanese government of Omar al Bashir, who has also been
indicted by the ICC for genocide as well as war crimes, has no lack
of capacity to transport its official Harun, but instead wanted to
get the UN further involved in undercutting the war crimes
indictments.
Already,
Haile
Menkerios
and
his counterpart at the Mission in Darfur UNAMID Ibrahim
Gambari attended the inauguration of Omar al Bashir. Inner City Press
asked Nesirky, without answer, if the UN would provide transport and
assistance to other ICC indictees, including Joseph Kony of the the
Lord's Resistance Army, widely thought to be in South Darfur.
UN Security Council in Sudan w/ Gambari, 10/10 (c)MRLee
Earlier
on
January
11,
Inner City Press asked representatives of
non-governmental organizations active on Sudan about the UN's
transport of ICC indictee Harun. David Abramowitz, the Director of
Policy and Government Relations of the group Humanity United, said
that he wasn't aware of the reports of Harun being transported, "I have
not seen that report."
Nor
has the US
administration, including its Mission at the UN, yet spoken on the
matter. Some wonder whether they were consulted, even whether, in
light of the offer to delink Darfur from the offer to remove some
sanctions on Sudan in exchange for the South Sudan referendum, if the
US agreed.
Sam
Bell, the
Executive Director of the Genocide Intervention Network / Save Darfur
Coalition, said he hadn't
seen the report confirmed, but either way
it did not send a good message to the people of Darfur, where Harun
was indicted for war crimes: "already Darfuri are suspicious of UNAMID
and UN personnel."
In
fact, Harun was
indicted for working with and organizing the type of nomadic tribes
which are accused of the killings in Abyei, and now in South Kordofan
state as well.
Nesirky
told Inner City Press that "Governor Harun was critical" to bringing
the Miseriya tribes together. Video
here,
from
Minute
15:58.
So
in this view,
it is not only a matter of the fox guarding the hen house: the UN has
taken to transporting the fox to the hen house. Where will there be
accountability? Watch this site.
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