UN Council Minces Words on Darfur Attack, "An Accident in Movement," Sudanese Media Says

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 11 -- Following the attack on UN peacekeepers in Darfur on January 7, the United States proposed in the UN Security Council a draft Presidential Statement referring to "a clearly marked United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) supply convoy" and including a "demand that the Government of the Sudan take immediate action to ensure that there will be no recurrence of the attack on UNAMID elements by its forces."

            Two days and five drafts later on Friday afternoon, a statement was finally agreed to, in which the convoy was no longer "clearly marked" and the second above-quoted sentence is replaced by "the Security Council welcomes the commitment of the Government of the Sudan to undertake a complete and full investigation into the incident, together with the United Nations/African Union." Meanwhile the Government of Sudan's media has described the attack as "an accident in movement of UNAMID troops."

            After the Council vote, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was asked to explain the final statement's reference to the "January 7 attack by elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces, as confirmed by... UNAMID." While Amb. Khalilzad explained the addition of "as confirmed by UNAMID" as merely a matter of naming a source for the Council's knowledge, others argued that it weakens the Statement, akin to the way "as reported by" or even "as alleged by" would. Sudan's Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad went further, emphasizing that the word "elements" in "elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces" could mean anything.

In Darfur, donning blue beret - or hands-on-your-head, accidental movement?

            The wordplay was taken up yet another notch in an article from Sudanese state media which the Sudanese mission distributed, which as translated riffs in two long sentences that

"The statement stressed that the statement of the Minister of Defense did not refer to attack by the Armed Forces on the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, but it referred to an accident in movement of UNAMID troops in an area witnessing security tension and hostile movements from a number of parties, pointing out that these hostilities and movements was supported by the statement issued by UNAMID itself in this regard, which did not specify any certain party behind the incident. The statement pointed out that the Armed Forces had been in defensive positions and not attacking ones, adding that this conforms with what has been explained by the office of the official spokesman of the Armed Forces at the time, who denied that the Armed Forces had attacked the mission and the Sudan Mission to the United Nations also pointed to this."

            As noted, the attack becomes "an accident in movement of UNAMID troops." Separately, Inner City Press asked the UN spokesperson about a report by Seoul-based Yonhap news that following a telephone call from Ban Ki-moon to the new government's transition team, South Korea is preparing to send peacekeepers to Darfur, in February or March, asking if any discussions were had with Khartoum about this. Video here, from Minute 14:14. "I don't know, I cannot confirm that information," the spokesperson replied.  Later, Inner City Press asked Amb. Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad the same question. He laughed and said, "Let them apply, like you do if you want to go to college. Then we will consider it."

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban's spokesperson if he or the Secretariat had any comment on the reported contribution by France of five helicopters and by Poland of two copters for peacekeeping in Chad and the Central African Republic. No comment was forthcoming, just as for now no copters for Darfur have been forthcoming. Watch this site.

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These reports are 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

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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