As
in
S. Kordofan Indicted Governor Spins Press, UNSC to Get
Simonovic July 28
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 26 -- As Southern Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun,
already indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court,
claims that the goal of his war is peace, in New York the requests
for a Security Council briefing by top human rights official Navi
Pillay will result Thursday afternoon session, but only with her
deputy Ivan Simonovic, Inner City Press has learned.
Several
Security
Council members specifically asked that Pillay be the briefer, on the
topic of a report jointly by her Office and the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, which is criticized in the report.
Already
Simonovic
reportedly stopped short of supporting the recommendation that the
actions and failures to act detailed in the report be referred to the
International Criminal Court.
Meanwhile
ICC
indictee Harun in a Khartoum press conference claimed that “we are
doing our best to keep the length of this conflict as short as
possible, because we believe that military operations are not a goal,
but are a tool to push the other side to the negotiating table.”
Look
how well that
worked in Darfur...
Ban, Nesirky, Nambiar & Orr, action on UN inaction not shown
Here's in
Harun's history in S. Kordofan,
summarized by a source:
Ahmed
Haroun
was Deputy Head of the National Intelligence and Security
Services (NISS) during the late 80s and early 90s in Kadugli. He
played a large role in a genocidal campaign to eliminate the Nuba
tribe from southern Kordofan, where he was stationed then. There are
numerous mass graves that he is personally responsible for; one of
them is underneath the UN airport built there five years ago.
When
he
left for Darfur, he immediately re-organized the PDF (aka
Janjaweed, government militias) ; in 1994 he established a long
relationship with the Lord's Resistance Army from Uganda, a
relationship that has continued to recently provide these criminals
with weapons and refuge in South Darfur. While there, he organized a
personal paramilitary group made up of the cream of the Central
Reserve Police (paramilitary organization created by Bashir), the
Border Security Gurads (another paramilitary organization also
created by Bashir) and led by the PDF commanders which he chose. They
all came to Southern Kordofan with him after his appointment as
Governor of that unfortunate state in 2009.
He
meets
with his good friend Ali Kushaib every weekend planning the
coming genocide of the Nubas, part of who stupidly voted for him
helping him to "win" the recent elections there, thanks
also in part to pre-filled ballot boxes. Ali Kushaib lives in
Debeibat in the northern part of the Southern Kordofan and is
currently re-organizing the PDF (whom he led in Darfur) in order to
accelerate their participation in the Nuban genocide.
So
can Ahmed Harun
(or Haroun) be subject to a rare second referral to the International
Criminal Court? And what could Navi Pillay be doing this week that is
more important? Watch this site.
* * *
As
UN
Stalls
on S. Kordofan Report, Request for Pillay Briefing in
Security Council
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
25 -- With Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti now
taking back his statement that Sudan would accept foreign troops in
Southern Kordofan if the SPML-North agreed, in New York mid Monday
the UN still had no comment, nor date on which its detailed
report on
human rights violations in Kordofan would be finalized. Click here to view
the report, put online by Inner City Press last week.
Meanwhile
in
the
Security Council, a request has been made for Navi Pillay, UN High
Commission for Human Rights, to be the one to come brief the Council
about Southern Kordofan on a day, not yet named, later this week. Her
New York representative Ivan Simonovic has reported stopped short
of supporting the reports recommendation for referral to the
International Criminal Court.
Inner
City
Press
on Monday as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky
if this is indeed Mr. Simonovic's position, and when the report will
at least be finalized. On the latter, Nesirky did not know. On the
former he said, “Ask Mr. Simonovic.”
On
Friday July 22
Inner City Press had asked the UN's Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
I wanted to ask you a couple of things about South
Kordofan. The Government is saying that it has arrested the JEM
military commander for South Kordofan there. They’ve said that,
which seems to confirm that JEM is fighting there. The Government
has also released a report accusing NGOs of supporting the, quote,
insurrection of Mr. [Al Hilu] and the SPLM-North, the the Denmark
Ecclesiastical Organization and the Norway Ecclesiastical
Organization. I wonder, does OCHA…what’s the UN
say? It sounds like the UN is not able to monitor or report on
Southern Kordofan, but it seems these NGOs are. What’s
the UN saying about what’s taking place in Southern Kordofan?
Spokesperson:
Well,
again, Matthew, we are not in a position to confirm the
details, the first part of your question on a JEM commander for the
reasons that we have explained before. We’re just simply not in a
position to be able to confirm that at this point. We’ve also said
repeatedly, that the United Nations system, from the
Secretary-General down, is extremely concerned about what is
happening in Kordofan, South Kordofan, and the reports that are
emerging. That’s precisely why the Secretary-General believes that
it is important to have access, for the international community to
have access, and that includes international non-governmental
organizations as well as United Nations agencies. That access is not
available at the moment, certainly not to the extent that we need to
be able to monitor and to be able to provide assistance to those who
need it.
Inner
City
Press:
Are the peacekeepers still there, have any actually been
withdrawn?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I
do not know the details of how many remain, how many have
withdrawn already. I’ll see if I can get some details on that.
Three
days later, no details have
been provided.
Footnote:
even
in
South Sudan, where the UN has a mission UNMISS, the UN on
Monday had nothing to say, and could not described any action on the
killing of South Sudan rebel Gatluak Gai. A Security Council member
asked about it by Inner City Press said this will be a test case. In
Southern Kordofan, beyond the NCP it seems the UN is failing the
test.
* * *
Sudan
Slaughter
of
150 Nubans Frozen in UN Edit Room, Rudderless
Peacekeeping
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
21
-- While the UN
holds a
report that that one of its
staff members in Sudan saw the piled corpses of 150 people of Nuban
descent in South Kordofan, it insists that because the report is a
“leaked draft,” it cannot or will not take action on its yet.
On
July 21, the day
after Inner City Press put the full report
online, it asked UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about this
paragraph:
28.
An
UNMIS
staff
member who was detained by SAF at their military
facility in Umbattah Locality reported during his detention, that he
saw over an estimated 150 dead bodies of persons of Nuban descent
scattered on the grounds of the military compound. Some of the bodies
appeared to have bullet wounds and he reported a large quantity of
blood on the ground. He reported a SAF soldier told them that they
had all been shot dead.
But
Nesirky cut
Inner City Press off in the middle of the paragraph, to insist this
is only a draft. From the UN's
July
21
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
I
am still looking at this report that was put out by the
human rights component of UNMIS [United Nations Mission in Sudan]. One
of the many things said in it is that --
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Let’s
just
roll back a bit, and I am sorry to interrupt
you, but it is not a report that has been put out by UNMIS, it is an
as yet un-finalized report that was leaked. So let’s get the
context correct.
Inner
City
Press:
Let’s
say this: the leaked report says that an UNMIS
staff member witnessed 150 dead bodies of Nuban descent in a military
facility in Sudan. So, my question is, even though it’s a leaked
report, it seems to be such a serious allegation that it seems
strange that the UN would say, we’re going to wait two weeks to
finalize it. What is being done, since that 150 dead bodies was
witnessed by a UN staff member? What actions have been taken, even
while the actual document itself is being finalized?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I
am
sure that the relevant people, and you’ve heard Ivan
Simonovic speaking on this topic, will have been seeking to follow up
on it. And as you heard Mr. Simonovic say, there are efforts to gain
access, so that there can be the kind of follow-up that you are
talking about. And if Mr. Simonovic has any further follow-up on
that, then obviously I’d let you know.
Question:
And
just
one more on peacekeeping. Today at the stakeout, Mr. Le
Roy said that he’s leaving on 10 August. So that seems to be
coming up pretty quickly. Without, I guess, getting into the names,
is there are going to be a new Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations on 10 August, or when is the process thought
to come to a conclusion? Is there a shortlist, et cetera?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I
would
doubt that there would be a new
Under-Secretary-General in place to take over the day after Mr. Le
Roy leaves office. Obviously there are, there is an established
procedure for having an officer-in-charge until a new
Under-Secretary-General is appointed. And when we get to that stage,
an announcement will be made.
At
the Security
Council stakeout on July 21, Le Roy told Inner City Press that the
report would not be finalized by the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations until two weeks after Mr. Simonovic spoke to the press
last week. That would be the day after Le Roy's final press
conference, and just before he leaves with no successor in place.
Meanwhile,
as
to
the
future in Southern Kordofan, Inner City Press asked
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
there
has been this quote by the Foreign Minister of
Sudan, Ali Karti, that there is an openness on the part of Khartoum
to, quote, “foreign troops” in Southern Kordofan. Has the UN
been informed of that? What does the UN think of that statement?
Spokesperson:
We
are
certainly aware of the statement, and we’re following up
with the Sudanese authorities to try to understand in greater detail
what that means.
But
who in the UN
is following up with what Sudanese authorities? Watch this site.
, 
in