At
UN,
Darfur Deaths Dismissed By Security Council Members, Inaction
Like UNAMID
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 7 -- After days of
death in Darfur, with the
janjaweed killing at least 37 in Jebel Marra, and eight dead in IDP
camp violence in West Darfur, when the UN Security Council met on
Tuesday morning after its long weekend, no member had raised the
subject of Sudan.
As
Ambassadors and
political coordinators filed into the Council for a meeting on Nepal,
Inner City Press asked them about the killings in Darfur. No one has
raised it, two Ambassadors replied. Another spoke vaguely about
expecting increased violence until the South Sudan referendum slated
for January 2011.
The
UN Security
Council created the billion dollar UNAMID peacekeeping mission, whose
chief Ibrahim Gambari is now being blamed by the Justice and Equality
Movement rebels for failing to respond to the killings.
As
Inner City
Press exposed three days ago, UNAMID refused to respond to the
killings in Tabra until it received approvals from Al Fashir and, it
is clear, Khartoum. The Council's pronouncements about the protection
of civilians are dead letters on the ground -- but in the basement of
the UN, the game goes on, Nepal this morning, Liberia tomorrow.
UN's Ban, Gambari and Pascoe: action on Darfur
murders not shown
While
UNAMID's
two spokespeople refused to respond to questions, perhaps at their
direction an Associate Spokesperson in New York forwarded to Inner
City Press their canned summary:
“A
further three inhabitants of the Hamadiya internally displaced
persons (IDP) camp in Zalingei, West Darfur, have died as a result of
injuries sustained during a firefight in the camp on 3 and 4
September. The development brings the number of fatalities to nine
and injured to more than 20.... UNAMD Deputy Joint Special
Representative Mohamed B. Yonis yesterday addressed local community
leaders at a Ramadan Iftar dinner in Nyala, South Darfur. He stressed
the importance of close working relations between the Mission and the
Government authorities.”
Perhaps
it was in
the name or service of “close working relations [with Sudan's]
Government authorities” that UNAMID refused to respond to the
initial reports of the janjaweed murders in Tabra -- which were not
included in UNAMID's summary. Watch this site.
* * *
After
Darfur
Killings, Calls for Gambari to Resign, No Responses, UN Speaks
to Itself
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 -- The UN was supposed to be an honest broker in
Darfur. Most recently, however, UN staff member Al Tijani Al Sissi
Ateem was recruited from the UN Economic Commission on Africa to head
up the new Liberation and Justice Movement.
When
Inner City
Press asked the UN, and Joint UN-African Union Special Representative
Ibrahim Gambari about the propriety of a UN paid staff member heading
a “rebel” movement to negotiate with Khartoum, both have said
that only joint AU-UN mediate Bassole can answer. But he won't. And
apparently Bassole has no spokesperson.
Now
the Justice
and Equality Movement has called for Gambari to resign, in light of
his inaction as civilians have been killed throughout Darfur. Inner
City Press directed a request for comment to the spokeswoman who
accompanied Gambari to the UN during his last visit, Theresa Pirkl.
She has simply passed the request on UNAMID's spokesmen, Chris
Cycmanick and Kemal Saiki, who have refused to answer these
questions:
“Has
UNAMID yet gained access to the site of the mass killing in North
Darfur? If not, why not, and how is this consistent with the
Mission's protection of civilians mandate? Can you provide the views
/ quote from JSr Gambari? How are the discussions about the Kalma
Camp possible relocation going? WHat is the status of the FAO and
UNHCR officials in West Darfur? What is the UN's estimate of
casualties? Who is responsible? What will UNAMID be doing?”
Cycmanick
has,
however, granted
an “exclusive” interview to the UN's own radio
station, Mireya. This is reminiscent of Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon giving a "stakeout" -- fake out -- to UN Radio, rather than
independent UN correspondents who would have asked questions. Ban has
yet to speak on the killings in Darfur.
UN's Ban & Gambari, spokespeople's comments on
Darfur killings not shown
So the
UN in Darfur refuses to answer questions from
independent media which cover the UN, but gives canned interviews to
the UN's own friendly media. Who is more responsible: the UN or the
regimes in Khartoum, even Pyongyang? Watch this site.
* * *
As
Darfuris
Lay Dying, UN Leak Shows Failure to Respond, Stonewalling, UNSC Soon?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 4 -- Proof of UN inaction on slaughter in Darfur,
received today by Inner City Press, is matched by silence from the
UN, in Sudan and at the level of UN Spokesperson.
Amid
reports of
dozens killed by janjaweed in the North Darfur village of Tabra,
Inner City Press on the morning of September 4 sent questions to the
spokesman for the joint UN - African Union Mission in Darfur
(UNAMID), Chris Cycmanick, as well as to the spokesman for UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, and the spokeswoman
for UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari.
Nesirky
replied
that UN was “aware of the reports [and] checking further.” Eight
hours later, however, no further information was provided. Cycmanick
never responded, but was quoted by CNN that “men on horses and
camels slaughtered 37 and left 30 injured at a market elsewhere in
Darfur... it was unclear who was responsible for that attack.”
Well,
one reason
the UN could claim a lack of knowledge of killing of dozens of people
in the Tabarat Market in Tabra was that the UN peacekeepers told
family members of those killed and wounded -- some of whom later died
-- that they could not go to the site of the attack, until approval
from El Fasher and ultimately from the Sudanese authorities.
Inner
City Press
has now obtained the following account from inside UNAMID:
“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.”
UN's Ban in North Darfur, delay and failure to
respond not shown
While the above only refers to need approval from Al Fashir,
that
could be obtained quickly. But the background here is the UN's
accepting of the need to get Sudanese authorities' approval to move,
even in cases of medical emergency.
Not only is
this inconsistent with UNAMID's protection of civilians mandate -- it
also calls into question the UNAMID spokesman's statements (and
refusals to answer media requests), and Ban Ki-moon's spokesman's
ostensible inability to provide information about the UN's actions.
What will Ban
Ki-moon, and the UN Security Council, do? Watch this
site.
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