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Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

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At UN, Sudan Discussion is CPA Only, Darfur Forgotten, Trip in Jeopardy, Rice on Ice

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 15 -- On Darfur, less than two weeks after the UN delayed two days in going to the Tabarat Market where over 50 people were killed, the issue seems to have been dropped by the UN Security Council and its most prominent members.

  On September 15 the Council has scheduled consultation “on Sudan,” and will receive a closed door briefing from top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy.

  Inner City Press has asked two Permanent Five representatives, and another Council member spokesman, and each has said the only Sudan topics to be considered are North - South, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the referendum.

The implicit message to the Sudanese government, and to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, is that the protection of civilians in Darfur is not that important, at least for now.

Even the Security Council's long announced trip to Sudan is in doubt. One of the lead countries told the Press on September 15 that nothing has been agreed with the Sudanese government. The Council's desire is to go to Kampala (led by Uganda), South Sudan (led by the US), Darfur (led by the UK) and then Khartoum (jointly led by the US and UK).

But there has been no agreement that president Bashir would meet with the Council. Therefore the trip, projected for as early as the first week of October, is in jeopardy.

While the US had made much of President Obama's plan to attend a UN “high level” meeting on Sudan on September 24, Inner City Press is told that only a weak consensus statement is expect from the meeting, which will include Khartoum-based vice president Taha as well as Salva Kiir from South Sudan.

Likewise only a weak Presidential Statement encouraging the North - South referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011, is expected after the September 15 consultations. This is the first of the Council's monthly meetings on the referendum, and Darfur is not slated to be mentioned, much less discussed.

Inner City Press asked, or tried to ask, US Permanent Representative Susan Rice if Darfur would be discussed at Wednesday's consultations as a US Mission to the UN media reception held on Tuesday night. Ambassador Rice first said that both South Sudan and Darfur would be discussed, then said only North - South and walked past. Asked later about Sudanese restrictions on UNAMID's movement in Darfur she said nothing.


Susan Rice, here re Iran, answers on Darfur not shown

Another attendee told Inner City Press that perhaps the lack of response by the peacekeepers is due to restrictions imposed by the country that contributed them, and not by the UN. But how then can UNAMID -- or MONUSCO in the Congo -- be said to protect civilians? Watch this site.

Footnote: Ambassador Rice was asked, by a journalistic fellow at the UN, is she is related to Condoleezza Rice. She said no, to her credit gently, and joked about height with other correspondents. CNN was allowed to film outside and inside the reception; hence this report on what Inner City Press told them should be called “Rice on Ice.” To be continued.

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On Darfur, UN Won't Provide Malnutrition Data, Protection Details, JEM Requests

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 14 -- On Darfur, the UN refuses to say if it has moved to change its practice of waiting for government approval before even trying to protect civilians, and the UN Mission UNAMID refuses to answer Press questions.

 Inner City Press on September 14 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban supports the re-entry of Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim into Darfur from Libya, and if the UN has asked for permission to so transport Ibrahim. Video here, from Minute 13:30.

I'll get back to you, Nesirky answered. But UNAMID's spokesman Chris Cycmanick back on August 11 wrote to Inner City Press that

A limited amount of malnutrition data for Darfur has been verified, which will be available in the next 1-2 days. Remaining data is still in the process of verification and will be released once verification is complete.”

Since then, no information has been provided, and Inner City Press' questions, about UN inaction on the killings in the Tabarat Market, have not been answered by UNAMID. Inner City Press on September 14 asked Nesirky.

Nesirky, seeming to not want to answer himself, said that asking UNAMID directly sounded like “not a bad idea.” But UNAMID won't answer. Nesirky said he'd find out.

On September 9, Inner City Press asked Ban about UNAMID's failure to protect civilians in the Tarabat Market. Ban replied that he had summoned UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to his retreat in Austria. But what was said?


UN's Ban and Bassole, JEM and protection of civilians not shown

 Is there an UN response to JEM's request that Gambari resign for failure to protect civilians? Nesirky said he would check, presumably on both.. We will be here.

Footnote: Mr. Ban held a press conference on September 13, but Inner City Press was not granted permission to ask a question, and no questions were asked about Sudan, despite Ban's claims about the UN's work there in his opening remarks. We will continue to follow these issues.

* * *

On Sudan, UN Ban Admits Limits on Peacekeepers, Gambari Summoned, Change Pledged


By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- In Darfur a week ago, UN Peacekeepers refused a request by the relatives of those killed and injured by janjaweed in the Tabarat Market to go to the location and try to protect those injured.

  Inner City Press obtained and published an internal document of the joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur, UNAMID, which said that approval had to be sought before the peacekeepers could go even to a site where injured people were dying.

  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held a brief media availability on September 9, and Inner City Press asked him about the Tarabat Market killings, the restrictions on movement on UNAMID, and the failure of the other UN Mission in Sudan, UNMIS, to view the body of killed Darfuri student Mohamed Musa when they were told of his death on February 12 of this year.

  Mr. Ban acknowledged problems in obtaining the “support” of the Sudanese government, and said that he summoned UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to his recent retreat in Austria to discuss these and other problems. The Justice and Equality Movement rebels in Darfur have demanded Gambari's resignation for failure to protect civilians.

  While Ban's candor was surprising to some, to characterize the UN's decision to await approvals before endeavoring to protect civilians as a problem of “administrative support” from the Sudanese authorities misses the point.

  A billion dollars are being spent on each mission, UNAMID and UNMIS. They have armed peacekeepers, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters which they have allowed Sudan to block them from using.

Since these restrictions violate the status of forces agreements the UN has with Sudan, it is unclear why the UN -- or mission chiefs Gambari and Haile Menkerios -- accept the restrictions.

   Both went to the inauguration of Omar Al Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide. Menkerios, the UN has admitted to Inner City Press, simply wants to return to New York in a year's time. He rarely speaks to the press in Sudan. He doesn't want to rock the boat.

Here is the UN's transcript of Inner City Press' questions and Mr. Ban's responses, video here --

Inner City Press: It turns out that, despite the protection of civilians mandate of UNAMID, that in several recent instances, peacekeepers have been telling relatives of victims that they need to get approval before they can leave their bases to go out. Most recently it was at the Tabarat market in Jebel Marra. They told them that they had to get approval before they could go. By the time they went, some people who had been injured were in fact dead. So what I am wondering is, what is the policy of the UN in terms of seeking approval from the Government? There is also a case in Khartoum in which a dead Darfuri student that was allegedly tortured, UNMIS (UN Mission in Sudan) was unable to get access to his body until it was too late. So, what is the policy of the UN in terms of its freedom of movement to protect civilians in Sudan?

SG Ban Ki-moon: In some cases it is true that there was some difficulty in getting smooth administrative support from the Government of Sudan. That has been the subject of continuous consultation with the Sudanese Government. During my visit to Austria last week I called in Mr. [Ibrahim] Gambari to Vienna, and I got a briefing on the situation and how we can ensure a smoother and more effective coordination and support from the Sudanese Government. We are aware of such problems and we will continue to improve the situation.

Inner City Press: Does it violate the Status of Forces Agreement, that the UN hasn’t been to parts of Jebel Marra since February? That is what John Holmes said before he left, that there are whole regions of Darfur they haven’t been able to reach.

SG Ban Ki-moon: There is a Status of [Forces] Agreement, of course. They should be faithful to provide the necessary support and cooperation. In reality, when we are not able to get such support, it really constrains the movement of our people and peacekeepers. We will do our best to improve this situation.

Watch this site.


UN's Ban and Bashir shake hands, protection of civilians not shown

Here is the UNAMID document obtained by Inner City Press:

At about 1800hrs on 02 Sep 2010, UNAMID Police Advisors received unconfirmed information from locals in Tawilla IDP camp that unidentified armed men attacked Tabarat Market near Maral village about 28kms southwest of Tawilla, where about 30 people were killed and more than 70 others were injured.

The information was received by the PF Force Commander Major Aimable Rukondo from relatives of victims in Tawilla IDP camp. At about 2030hrs, people from the Tawilla IDP camp gathered near the gate of Tawilla UNAMID Base requesting for assistance to evacuate their relatives who were in Tabarat market. The PF Commander together with the Acting Team Site Commander advised the relatives that prior approval from El Fasher Headquarters is needed before proceeding to the place and with that they were advised to be back to Tawilla Base tomorrow morning for possible medical evacuation movement to Tabarat market once it has been approved by the higher Headquarters.”

Here's from the UN transcript of its September 7 noon briefing; the September 8 is online here.

Inner City Press: There’s also, and I’m sure African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) is aware of this, reports that UNAMID said they confirmed some of, of up to 37 people killed in a village, in a market — Tabarat Market near the town of Tawilla — that said that the United Nations peacekeepers were told of the attack and said that they could not go to pick up even the wounded until they got approval from Al-Fasher. What I want to know is whether, how long it took them to respond and whether this approval included approval from the Government in Khartoum and if so, whether if any of the people expired there of their injuries might have been saved had the United Nations actually gone to protect civilians?

Spokesperson Haq: Well, first of all, this process of approval is a standard procedural process. But in terms of the details, on 4 September a UNAMID patrol gained access to the Tabarat area. It observed that Tabarat was practically deserted and reported the presence of Government police in the area. Today, 7 September, a UNAMID mission travelled to Tawilla to further assess the impact of the violence. UNAMID has made efforts to assist in evacuating some of the injured victims by air to Al-Fasher. In terms of our estimated casualties, the Tabarat incident left more that 50 people dead and a large number injured.

Inner City Press: Tawilla, to my understanding there’s a Peacekeeping unit there… that there are peacekeepers stationed there. Is that true? So did UNAMID sort of buttress its presence there and why weren’t those people able to go after they were told by relatives of those injured that this attack had taken place in the market?

Spokesperson: I think I have some further details for you for afterwards, but basically in terms of the ability to gain access, as soon as we gained access, that was on the 4 September, a UNAMID patrol did go into the area. The difficulty is in dealing with access to areas on the ground.

Inner City Press: Just one last… that means that… somebody there gave me a copy of a United Nations document showing that the relatives of the deceased or the injured had approached the UN peacekeepers of Tawilla and were told “we can’t go there tonight. We have to come back tomorrow because we need approval from Al-Fasher.” And I’m just wondering, how does the approval process work? Is it as simple as calling UNAMID in Al-Fashir and they say yes you can go out, or does it involve reaching the Government if their offices are closed or not and how does it…

Spokesperson: It varies from case to case, but ultimately it depends on dealing with authority on the ground to make sure that approval is in place for our deployment.

 Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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