UN
Torture
Expert Urges UN Not to Handover to Sudan, Gambari &
Rice Absent
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 26 -- In Darfur, moves
by the UN to hand over to the
government five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid al-Nur were
criticized Tuesday by the UN's own Special Rapporteur on Torture
Manfred Nowak.
Inner City Press, which first exposed the UN's draft
agreement between Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti and Ibrahim
Gambari of the Darfur mission UNAMID, asked Nowak if such a turn over
would violate the law. Video here,
from Minute 30:40.
Nowak
replied that objectively, “there is no question that torture is
widely practices in Sudan.” Are the five sheikhs, political
opponents targeted by the government of Omar al-Bashir, for some
reason exempt from torture?
Gambari's
draft
agreement with Karti, leaked to and published by Inner City
Press, sought only to preclude execution, with a promise from
al-Bashir. Even this promise has been disavowed -- Sudan's
Ambassador to the UN Dafaala Al Haj Ali Osman on October 25 told
Inner City Press such a commitment has not been and could not be
made, that at most Gambari must have been referring to the idea that
“blood relatives” might offer forgiveness (for money). Video
here.
Gambari
was in New York on October 25, according to Nigerian mission sources,
but did not come to the UN Security Council's meeting about Darfur
and UNAMID. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the spokesman for
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, where Gambari is.
On
October 26, Inner City Press asked Nesirky for Gambari's or the UN's
response to Nowak's statement urging the UN not to turn the five over
to Sudan. Nesirky replied that “special rapporteurs have
independent status.” Video here,
from Minute 32:07.
On
October 25, chief UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy told the Security
Council “we have made clear we cannot hand over the sheikhs in the
absence of a clear commitment the death penalty, if issued, would not
be carried out, alongside other assurances.”
But
Nowak, when asked by Inner City Press, said that “diplomatic
assurances with respect to torture are not worth the paper they are
written on.”
While
Gambari has asked Inner City Press, in a containing in the UNAMID
Super Camp, what he can do except negotiate to turn the five sheikhs
over to Sudanese authorities, now the UN system's two top experts on
torture have said this would violate the law, including customary
international law.
How
as the UN so badly lost its way? And who will be held accountable?
Gambari, Rice, Lyall Grant, customary int'l law not
shown (c) MRLee
The issue was raised to Western Permanent Five ambassadors of the
Security Council before their Sudan trip. But the UK's Mark Lyall
Grant twice said it wasn't among the trip's “terms of reference.”
The
US' Susan Rice has indicated she asked about the issue while in
Sudan, but has declined to disclose what she or Gambari said. It was
impossible to ask her these questions at the Security Council's
October 25 meetings on Darfur and South Sudan, because she was not
present and therefore no US official took questions at the stakeout,
unlike Sudan's Ambassador.
What is the US position on
torture? Watch
this site.
* * *
As
UN
Gambari
Plans Hand Over to Bashir in Sudan, Torture Complaint Mulled at
UN
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October
19 -- Could the UN, or the chief of its peacekeeping
mission in Darfur
Ibrahim Gambari, be on the verge of violating the UN Convention Against
Torture?
Inner
City Press
asked the chairman of the UN Committee Against Torture Claudio
Grossman this question on October 19, referring to the leaked
documents showing Gambari's plan to turn over five supporters of Fur
rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to the government of Omar al Bashir, accused
of
genocide, war crimes and, yes, torture. Video here,
from Minute
23:25.
Grossman
answered
that “as to the UN system... no one should be sent to places where
he or she will be tortured.” Video here
from Minute 30. He cited
this prohibition to Article 3 of the Convention.
Inner
City Press
asked, but if a complaint is filed about Gambari's and the UN's
pending turn over of five people to Bashir, how would Grossman's
Committee Against Torture process it? Video here,
from
Minute 30:20.
Grossman
said that
while in one sense the Committee's work is limited to member states,
there is creative lawyering. Not only other venues such as Working
Groups and the Special Rapporteur on Torture, but also “journalism
can play a role,” he said.
So
one wonders why
the SLA, or someone on behalf of the Kalma Five, doesn't start
raising the question as an anti-torture issue, using Gambari's draft
-- which contains no assurances on this -- as the basis for the
complaints? Watch this site.
* * *
In
Darfur,
Gambari
Criticizes
Nur
&
Inner
City
Press on Video,
Transcription Here
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
DARFUR,
October
8
--
Peacekeepers
were
sent
to
Darfur after reports of a
brutal campaign by the government of Omar al Bashir against opponents
of his regime and civilians perceived as supporting them.
Now
top
peacekeeper
Ibrahim
Gambari,
as
shown
by documents
leaked
to
and
published by
Inner City Press, is near to turning over five supporters of rebel
Abdel Wahid Nur to that same Bashir regime, in exchange for a promise
by Bashir to commute any death sentence his courts impose.
Several
members
of
the
UN
Security
Council,
which ostensibly oversees Gambari's actions
along with the African Union, expressed surprise to Inner City Press
once they saw the leaked documents, consisting of a draft letter and
“Additional Terms” from Gambari to Bashir's foreign minister Ali
Karti.
On
the
UN
plane
Thursday
to
El
Fasher from South Sudan, US Ambassador Susan Rice told
Inner City Press that she intends to inquire into Gambari's offers
about the Kalma Camp Five while in Darfur. This echoed a statement of
intention previously issued by another Permanent Member of the
Council.
After
a
closed
door
meeting
with
the
visiting Security Council members, Gambari
and two
of his military officials, in uniform, came to see the Press.
Gambari
called Inner City Press' publication of his draft documents
“reprehensible” and told Inner City Press to “be careful...
lives are at stake.” Transcription below.
Yeah, a witness to
Gambari's statements later said, the
lives of the Kalma Camp Five are
at risk if the UN turns them over to a strongman already
indicted for
genocide and war crimes. “Is this what the UN should be doing?”
Gambari's
statements
to
Inner
City
Press
were
caught on video and will soon be
published online as such. For now, here is a transcription, prepared
late Thursday night at a guest house in El Fasher outside of
Gambari's UNAMID compound:
Inner
City
Press
asked
Ibrahim
Gambari,
“What's
happen
with the Kalma
Camp Five that you are considering turning over to the government...
or that documents indicate you are considering turning over?”
Gambari
answered:
“Here
is
the
situation.
We
have
these five sheikhs who
have been accused of some very serious offenses. We have no means as
UNAMID to try them... Down the line if ever there was a death
sentence, the President has the prerogative of mercy. All has been
discussed confidentially. I want to say how reprehensible it was
that somebody leaked the confidential communication of the government
of Sudan...endangering the lives of those in the camps. The recipient
of such a leak I think should also think twice about what they do
considering that they are endangering the lives.. We've lost 27
peacekeepers between UNAMID and UNMIS, I mean AMIS.”
Inner
City
Press
asked
about
Abdel
Wahid
Nur
saying that if the Five are
turned over, it will make UNAMID complicit in genocide, and that his
group would not cooperate with the UN any more.
Gambari
responded,
“you
quote
words
Abdel
Wahid
was
supposed to have
said... I met Khalil Ibrahim yesterday, asked how about how someone
said JEM wants Gambari to resign for Tarabat Market. [He
said he] ever said that, never authorized this... I want to hear from
Abdel Wahid. I've been to Paris twice, I went to Tripoli...What
happened in New York I condemn it. Matthew I have known you a long
time, you should be careful... You are a recipient of a leaked
document... Journalism also is a responsibility. I regard you as a
friend, I used to, I regard you as a friend, I am admitting that.”
Of
Abdel
Wahid
Nur,
Gambari
said:
“He wants all issues resolved almost
before he comes.”
“Matthew,
I'm
very
angry
with
you
,
what are we supposed to do, keep people
indefinitely?”
Inner
City
Press
said,
“Several
Security
Council
members,
when they saw
the leaked documents, said they were not aware that you or UNAMID
were in such discussions, and some expressed worry. How much is this
Mission overseen by the Security Council?”
Gambari
said
“Ask
them.
Ask
the
S-G.
I
am responsible to two masters. You
have the AU and you have the UN. The unity of the international
community is key to finding a solution.”
Inner
City
Press
said,
as
Gambari
backed
out
the door toward his vehicle,
“Transparency you can always say is dangerous, but I think it's
probably a good thing.”
“No,”
Gambari
said.
“Believe
me,
lives
are
at stake.”
Or
maybe
jobs,
a witness to Gambari's statements later said, adding that the lives
of the Kalma Camp Five are at risk if the UN turns them over to a
strongman already indicted for genocide and war crimes. Among other
lives put at risk, without oversight, transparency or explanation.
“Is this what the UN should be doing?”
Watch
this site.
Footnote:
it's
worth
noting
that
even
before
Inner
City Press obtained and
published Gambari's draft letter to Sudan's Ali Karti, Gambari had
already expressed anger at Inner City Press' publication
of
other
leaked
documents
concerning
his
time
as UN envoy to Myanmar.
That time,
before
the
UN's
September
24
high
level meeting on Sudan, Gambari didn't
argue about lives being at risk. He claimed the documents were “old”
(2009) and not newsworthy. “Just leave me alone,” he said, having
in the past declined to respond to questions sentto his UN e-mail
address by Inner City Press. Now, the claim that lives are put at
risk. Is it just opposition to transparency?
, 
