While
Rebels
Oppose Darfur Deal, US Supports It, Bassole to Send Letters
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 23 -- The day after UN Security
Council heard about
what's called the Darfur Peace Agreement from the foreign ministers
of Burkina Faso and Qatar, Inner City Press put questions about the
agreement and rebel group's opposition to both of them, and US
Permanent Representative Susan Rice.
When
Ambassador
Rice came out of the Security Council, Inner City Press asked her,
“most of the rebel groups have spoken actually against the
document. I wanted to know you know whether you think this will
actually bring peace to Darfur.”
Rice
replied that
“we are of the view that that agreement represents a step, an
important step, forward. Obviously, in and of itself it is not
sufficient to end the conflict in Darfur, but we think it was an
important step and we have supported it.”
But
the Justice
and Equality Movement, whose leader Khalil Ibrahim remains trapped in
Tripoli which is being bombed by NATO, has spoken against the
document, as have the rebel groups led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur and
Minni Minnawi. Inner City Press put this question to the two foreign
ministers.
Djibril
Bassole,
who stepped down as joint UN-AU mediator earlier this month, said “I
think so far there is no rejection... they need to sit with the
government in Khartoum.” He added, “the armed movements are
still divided.”
Qatar's
foreign
minister Ahmad Bin Abdulah Al Mahmoud said that the document represents
what people in Darfur
want, and therefore puts pressure on the rebels. He said, “for
first time, all stakeholders were in one room. JEM they participated
as well as LJM.. The movements are psay]ing they are looking for
right of people of Darfur. They were there, expressed their
requirements... as Brother Bassole said... we going to send letters
to movements.”
Bassole, Ban Ki-moon & Qatar minister on June 20 (c) MRLee
After
other media
questions in Arabic and French, Inner City Press followed up, asking
how they would reach out to JEM's Khalil Ibrahim trapped in Tripoli.
Bassole
said that
“we have been trying to get him out of Tripoli, it is not that
easy. We will keep working on it with our partners to keep him out of
there” to sign.
Would
they only
get him out of harm's way in Tripoli IF he signs? The UN was asked
long ago to get him out, as the UN got its own international staff
out. But he remains there. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Doha
Process on Darfur Ends in Whimper, No Rebels, No Rice
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
22 -- The issue of Darfur, once burning hot,
degenerated Wednesday into a closed door UN Security Council meeting
with no output. Even the scheduled press availability by Qatar's
foreign minister, in New York to present the so-called
Darfur Peace
Agreement, got canceled.
“Where is
George
Clooney?” a representative of Qatari state media asked Inner City
Press. More to the point, where was US Ambassador Susan Rice?
Qatar
has
hosted
the Doha process, urging rebels to come in order to show the
emirate's diplomatic prowess. But the final product has not been
signed by the Justice and Equality Movement, whose leader Khalil
Ibrahim the UN has refused to evacuate like its own staff from
Tripoli, nor the factions led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur and Minni
Minnawi.
From
the
“Astroturf”
rebel movement led by former UN staff member
Al-Tijani Al-Sissi, even Ali Karbino has broken away and joined the
still-fighting rebels.
So
what was or
would be solved by the Darfur Peace Agreement?
The Security
Council
met for hours on Wednesday with former joint UN-AU mediator Djibril
Bassole, now Burkina Faso's foreign minister, and his Qatari
counterpart.
Afterward
top
UN
peacekeeper Alain Le Roy told Inner City Press, no one has signed the
agreement yet. The Council is going to issue a press statement to put
pressure for them to sign.
No
press statement
was issued. The focus seemed to have shifted to South Sudan -- some
surmised that Darfur had just been used as a bargaining chip, to
indict Omar al Bashir as leverage to let South Sudan go. And after
July 9? Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
As
Ban
Credits
Bassole for Darfur “Progress,” He Left Post on June 8
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
9
--
When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on
June 6 for a second term, he was asked about failing on Darfur,
one
of
his
top
two stated priorities in his first term. Ban replied that
process is accelerating, and credited Joint Chief Mediator Djibril
Bassole.
On
June 9, Inner
City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
if
I
understood it correctly Mr. Djibril Bassolé was
described as stepping down as the joint AU/UN mediator. But he has
since been quoted as saying he remains a mediator. And he did go to
these Doha talks. So, is he the UN’s mediator or not? It’s
unclear. He says that he is, but it was said here that he is not. Which
is it?
Spokesperson:
I
think
it
was also said here that he has a split role at the moment
and will continue to — was continuing, I should say — was
continuing to serve as one of the mediators in the run-up to the
meeting that you spoke about. But there will be a change in that
status, and I think I’ll be able to give you precisely what that
change is after this.
Just
after
the
briefing
ended,
Nesirky said he would look into it. Later this was
added to the UN's transcript:
[The
Spokesperson’s
Office
later
said
that Djibril Bassole’s contract
as a United Nations-African Union envoy ended Wednesday, 8 June.]
So
Ban's man on
Darfur is no longer in the post.
Ban and Bassole, left Darfur post June 8 with a whimper
And where do
we stand? Rebels
supporting Minni Minawai and Abdel Wahid al Nur did not sign onto the
recent Doha process. The head of the joint UN - AU peacekeeping
mission UNAMID, Ibrahim
Gambari, is often in New York, most recently listed as giving
a
speech in Connecticut on June 4. What is the UN doing in Darfur? It
is not clear. Watch this site.
* * *
UN
Admits
2d
Flight
of
ICC
Darfur
Indictee
Haroun
to
Abyei
in
Sudan,
Impunity
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
4,
updated -- The UN
has for a second time offered a free UN
flight in Sudan to Ahmed Haroun, under indictment by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, the UN
admitted Friday in response to questions from Inner City Press.
On
March 3 the UN
Security Council met about renewed fighting in the disputed Abyei
region. Back in January, Inner City Press got the UN to acknowledge
they had flown ICC indictee Haroun from South Kordofan, where he
serves fellow ICC indictee Omar al Bashir as governor, to Abyei.
The
UN has defended
this controversial flight by saying that Haroun and Haroun alone
could stop violence in Abyei. The UN never explained why the
government of Sudan, which has an air force currently bombing civilians
in Jebel Marra in Darfur, couldn't itself fly Haroun.
The
UN said it was
a scheduled flight, then UN Mission in Sudan chief Haile Menkerios
admitted to
Inner City Press that it was a special flight. Inner City Press is
told such flights cost $40,000, and the UN has confirm no
reimbursement has been sought from the Bashir government.
But
now the
violence has continued, making the UN flight of ICC indictee Haroun
harder to justify even by the UN's own argument.
March
3
in
front
of
the
Security
Council,
Inner
City
Press
asked
Council
president
for
March Li Baodong of China if the UN Peacekeeping official who briefed
the Council, Atul Khare, had mentioned if Haroun would again be flown
in a UN helicopter. Li Baodong did not directly answer.
At
the March 4 UN
noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm or deny that that the UN would
once again fly ICC indictee Haroun to Abyei, even now that his work in
connection with the first flight has proved ineffective.
Nesirky
said
he
would
check.
Ten
minutes
later,
Nesirky's
deputy
Farhan
Haq
announced
by
speaker
to all UN correspondents that yes, Haroun attended today's
meeting in Abyei, and yes, “he was transported” by the UN.
This
UN
promotes
impunity,
even
for
one
of
the
few
people
indicted
for
war
crimes by
the ICC. Meanwhile Ban Ki-moon brags about the Security Council's partial
referral of the situation in Libya to the ICC -- a referral that Ban
Ki-moon did not even call for until after the Council voted to make
the referral.
This
UN
is
promoting
and
enshrining
lawlessness,
with
no
transparency
or
accountability.
Watch
this
site.
Update
of 3:48 pm -- Human Rights Watch, via Richard Dicker, submitted
this
comment:
“This
is the second time in recent weeks the UN has transported Ahmed
Haroun who is charged by the ICC with war crimes in Darfur. We have
real concerns because the U.N. should not be in the business of
transporting Haroun. There needs to be an extremely high threshold of
urgency for such action by UNMIS.”
Responses
have
been
sought
from
the
Missions
to
the
UN
of
France,
the
UK
and the US,
with the latter two asked if they knew in advance of the UN's new
flight of ICC indictee Haroun. Given her
statements
this
year
about
social
media, & after hours of non-response by the US Mission
to the UN,@AmbassadorRice
has been asked directly as well. Watch
this site.
Update
of
4:30
pm
--
Then
this,
from
UK
Mission
to
the
UN
spokesman
Daniel
Shepherd:
“As
spokesperson, I would only reiterate the message that my two
Ambassadors have both said on the record (and published by Inner City
Press) first time around: that we aren’t going to second guess how
UNMIS fulfills its mandate to provide good offices to the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) parties in efforts to resolve
differences through dialogue and negotiations. I’d only add that
this work is particularly important at this sensitive time, to
contain any potential escalation after the recent Abyei violence.”
We could
note
again that violence has persisted despite the UN flying ICC indictee
Ahmed Haroun in the first time, and that it is the role of UN member
states to oversee the UN Secretariat, not to defer in this case to
what some see as its promotion of impunity - but at least the UK
would put its position on the record.
Update
of
4:43
pm
--
this
too
has
come
in,
perhaps
in
response:
Date:
Fri,
Mar
4,
201
Subject: Haroun and Abyei
To: Matthew.Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
You
guys
ask
great
questions!
Have
you
noticed
perhaps
that
the
United
Nations
seems
to
be unaware of who is causing the violence in Abyei.
And yet "diplomatic sources" report seeing the burial of 33
bodies - all southerners.
The
Arab
nomads
say
the
violence
started
when
SPLM
police
shot
at
them
(Hitler
used
a similar ploy to invade Poland) - and today thousands
of civilians fled Abyei fearing another crisis like in June 2008. The
Dinka Ngok villages north of Abyei, such as Maker, have been
burnt to the ground. The end explains the means. There is a
creeping ethnic cleansing going on in the Abyei region despite the
agreements of 2005 and the Court of Arbitration ruling in 2010.
Why
fly
Haroun
to
Abyei
-
what
is
his
cv?
It
is,
as
you
correctly point
out, that of arming arab militias to burn villages. I hope to see
more of your questions pinning the UN to the responsibility to
protect.
, 
