As
Ban
Again Dodges on 2d Term, Claims a Transparency Not Seen at UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 14 -- With expectations he'd confirm he'll seek a
second term, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held a press conference
in New York on Friday. He began by focusing on three issue, not
mentioning the critiques of the UN on any of them.
Ban
mentioned
Haiti, but not the allegation that UN peacekeepers brought cholera to
the island and then covered it up. He has been asked to remove the UN
immunity of a UN staffer there for a murder inquiry, but his
spokesman Martin Nesirky has refused to address Ban Ki-moon's
response.
Ban
mentioned
Cote d'Ivoire, but not that UN peacekeepers under the command of his
close ally Choi Young-jin in fact turned tail and retreated leaving a
neighborhood of supporters of Alassane Ouattara to be attacked by
forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. All Ban would say is that those who
comment attacks will “face accountability.”
Ban
mentioned
Sudan and Darfur,
but did not address the the UN Mission there this
week provided free transportation and logistics help to an indicted
war criminal, Ahmed Haroun. What was that about accountability?
After
these three
points, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky presided over a question
period in which issues like the Middle East, North Korea and Ban's own
statements
a month ago about his Panel of Experts being able to do work in Sri
Lanka were not present or allowed. As the frustration against Ban and
Nesirky grew in the room, some journalists started shouting out
questions.
One
question was
about the corruption and lack of transparency in the Ban
administration alleged by former top UN investigator Inga Britt
Ahlenius.
Ban,
reading from
notes, claimed that 99% of his officials now make public financial
disclosure on the UN's web site. This figure is not true. Many
officials simply file a one page form that they refuse to make any
disclosure public.
Ban Ki-moon & spox, ignored questions and Darfur
kidnappings not shown
Other
Ban envoys,
such as Alexander Downer who simultaneously works for a business
consultancy Bespoke Approach, don't make financial disclosures.
Ban's
expert on
genocide Francis Deng is allowed, on UN time, to work on private book
projects. He owns property, allegedly in the Sudanese region impacted
by the referenda and stalled popular consultations. But his “public
financial disclosure” doesn't even state what state of Sudan his
property is in, nor how much it is worth. On UN time Deng writes
books about Sudan and the referendum, but the UN refuses to say that
the contents are attributable to the UN.
Questions
pend for
weeks in Ban's Spokesperson's Office. Spokesman Martin Nesirky says
proudly that that are questions that he simply will never answer,
without even explaining why. This is not transparency.
* * *
As
UN
Admits
Transporting ICC Indictee Harun to Abyei, NGOs & US Have Yet
to
Speak
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
11 -- The UN Mission in Sudan transported and
assisted International Criminal Court indictee Ahmed Harun, UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed to Inner City Press on Tuesday,
because the UN finds Harun helpful in dealing with violence in Abyei.
Nesirky implied that the UN will continue to transport
Harun, saying that the UN "will continue to provide necessary support
to key players." Video
here,
from
Minute 13:48.
Inner
City
Press
asked why the UN transported Harun, not only in light of his ICC
indictment for war crimes in Darfur, but also of the capacities
of
the Sudanese Air Force, which has recently conducted bombing raids
in
and near Southern Sudan.
If
the Sudanese
Air Force can bomb, Inner City Press asked, why can't it fly Harun to
Abyei? Nesirky did not answer this question. Nor would he tell Inner
City Press if UNMIS, led by Haile Menkerios, had checked with UN
Headquarters' Office of Legal Affairs or Ban Ki-moon before
transporting an indicted war criminal.
It
seems to some
that the Sudanese government of Omar al Bashir, who has also been
indicted by the ICC for genocide as well as war crimes, has no lack
of capacity to transport its official Harun, but instead wanted to
get the UN further involved in undercutting the war crimes
indictments.
Already,
Haile
Menkerios
and his counterpart at the Mission in Darfur UNAMID Ibrahim
Gambari attended the inauguration of Omar al Bashir. Inner City Press
asked Nesirky, without answer, if the UN would provide transport and
assistance to other ICC indictees, including Joseph Kony of the the
Lord's Resistance Army, widely thought to be in South Darfur.
UN Security Council in Sudan w/ Gambari, 10/10 (c)MRLee
Earlier
on
January
11, Inner City Press asked representatives of
non-governmental organizations active on Sudan about the UN's
transport of ICC indictee Harun. David Abramowitz, the Director of
Policy and Government Relations of the group Humanity United, said
that he wasn't aware of the reports of Harun being transported, "I have
not seen that report."
Nor
has the US
administration, including its Mission at the UN, yet spoken on the
matter. Some wonder whether they were consulted, even whether, in
light of the offer to delink Darfur from the offer to remove some
sanctions on Sudan in exchange for the South Sudan referendum, if the
US agreed.
Sam
Bell, the
Executive Director of the Genocide Intervention Network / Save Darfur
Coalition, said he hadn't
seen the report confirmed, but either way
it did not send a good message to the people of Darfur, where Harun
was indicted for war crimes: "already Darfuri are suspicious of UNAMID
and UN personnel."
In
fact, Harun was
indicted for working with and organizing the type of nomadic tribes
which are accused of the killings in Abyei, and now in South Kordofan
state as well.
Nesirky
told Inner City Press that "Governor Harun was critical" to bringing
the Miseriya tribes together. Video
here,
from
Minute 15:58.
So
in this view,
it is not only a matter of the fox guarding the hen house: the UN has
taken to transporting the fox to the hen house. Where will there be
accountability? Watch this site.
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