On
Sudan,
UN Won't Confirm Darfur Attacks, US Still Nothing on 12
Murders in Unity
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 6 -- As the Darfur Peace Agreement unravels and the
pace of
death escalates in South Sudan the UN, and surprising to some
the US are slow and reticent to investigate and comment.
On
December 6,
Inner City Press asked
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about Omar al
Bashir's targeting of his one ally in Darfur, Minni Minawi:
Inner
City
Press: in Sudan over the weekend, the President [Omar al-]Bashir
Government has raided the offices of the transitional Darfur regional
authority and has said
Minni Minawi’s faction is now a target, a
military target for the Government, if previously they were an ally
of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and that they’re going to the South
and will now be fighting. What is the comment of the UN on the
total
unravelment of the Darfur Peace Agreement?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I have seen the reports. I don’t have any specific
comment at the moment. But I know that my colleagues are checking
with the Mission on that. But we’ve certainly seen the reports.
Inner
City
Press: Okay. And they’re going to try to verify this raid on
the transitional Darfur regional authority?
Spokesperson:
I’ve heard what you’ve said, and certainly we’ll try to check
on that.
Hours
later, there
was no confirmation. On December
3, the UN belatedly confirmed to
Inner City Press the death of 10 SPLM soldiers and two civilians in
South Sudan:
Sudan authorities riding high, UN confirmation and
US comment not shown
Inner
City
Press: there is a report that the SPLA [Sudan People’s
Liberation Army] is saying that 12 of their soldiers have been killed
in an ambush by government-supported militias in Unity state. So, it
seems like it’s a pretty high number in a big clash. I wonder if
it’s something the UN has heard of and can confirm or deny or is
going to go verify it.
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, what I have been told is that we are aware that an
SPLA truck with approximately 35 soldiers and their families was
reportedly ambushed by an unknown group around 8 o’clock. This was
on 1 December between Tamoa and Tubarit in Unity State, as you said,
while traveling from Mayom to Bentiu — excuse my pronunciation of
these places — a joint monitoring team that comprised SAF [Sudan
Alliance Forces] and SPLA and led by the UN Mission in Sudan that
went to Bentiu hospital where most of the casualties were brought by
an SPLA truck. And the first report by that monitoring team confirms
that 11 people were killed on the spot. And then one died in the
hospital I just referred to. Ten people were wounded. However, the
identity of the attackers is still not known. The team, I mean, the
monitoring team, will be conducting patrols to the incident site and
will meet with SPLA commanders and local authorities to try to
further investigate this. That’s what I have for you.
Inner
City
Press: But does, I mean, I guess without knowing, the SPLA has
said that they believe it’s a government-backed militia, and I just
wonder, does the UNMIS [United Nations Mission in the Sudan] see any
connection between this and the upcoming referendum? Is this viewed
[inaudible]?
Spokesperson:
As I’ve said, they’re investigating it.
After
this at
least partial confirmation, Inner City Press on December 3 e-mailed
the US Mission to the UN, this month's Security Council presidency,
to ask both for US comment on the killings, and if the Council would
take them up. As of the close of the Council's business on December 6
there was no answer. Watch this site.
As
UN
Belatedly Confirms Khartoum Bombing of S.Sudan, UNSC Has Yet to
Consider It
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 29 -- After reports of Sudanese Armed Forces
bombing in the Kiir Adem area of Northern
Bhar
el ghazal State, last week the UN refused to confirm the attacks,
as it has refused to confirm or deny more than a week of bombing in
Jebel Marra in North Darfur.
Inner City Press on November 29 asked again, as
Southern
Sudanese were fleeing the area from fear of more bombings by
Khartoum.
This time, UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan
Haq answered
with a prepared statement, that a patrol of the UN Mission to Sudan
on November 25, the US Thanksgiving when the UN in New York was
closed, confirmed the bombing. Video here,
from Minute 8:53.
Haq said he had been informed that 1500 people
were displaced,
and that UNMIS filed reports of the bombing with bodies including the
Ceasefire Joint Monitoring commission.
It is not clear, particularly
given the questions asked last week, why the UN waited to be asked a
second time in order to read out this prepared statement. The UN
canceled its noon press briefing on November 26, despite the UN in
New York ostensibly being open.
UN in Northern Bahr al ghazal State in Oct
2010, confirmation of bombing not shown
Moments after Haq's belated confirmation on
November 29, Inner
City Press asked the president of the UN Security Council for
November, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, what the Council thinks of
the bombing in Northern Bhar el ghazal State, particularly in light
of the referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011. Video here.
Lyall Grant said that no one had raised it in the
Council that
morning -- the topics inside the Council included North Korea and
Somalia, and outside focused on Wikileaks
-- but that since the
Council remains seized of Sudan, it will probably come up. Watch this
site.
, 
