UN's
Two Tales of
Sudan
“Simulated”
Attack on
Darfur Convoy,
DRC Contrasted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 14 –
The day before
the UN
Security
Council
adopted its
resolution on
the Sudan
Sanctions
Panel of
Experts, Inner
City Press published
a leaked
draft,
including a
paragraph
“condemning
the simulated
attack by
Sudanese army
helicopters on
a
UNAMID patrol
to which the
Panel of
Experts arms
expert was
attached.”
At
the February
13 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
for more
information on
this
“simulated
attack by
Sudanese army
helicopters
on a UNAMID
patrol,” since
a search of
the press
releases on
the
UNAMID
mission's web
site found no
mention of it.
A
day later,
after the
Council's
vote, the UN
sent the
following to
Inner City
Press:
Subject:
Your
question on
UNAMID
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Thu, Feb
14, 2013 at
12:41 PM
To: Matthew
[dot]
Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
question on a
shooting
incident last
year in
Darfur, the
UN-African
Union Mission
in Darfur has
the following
to say:
On
26 September
2012, two
Sudanese Armed
Forces
helicopters
flew at low
altitude over
a UNAMID
patrol that
was returning
from an
assessment
mission to
Thabit (North
Darfur). The
authorities
claimed the
aircraft
mistook the
patrol for an
armed movement
convoy. The
patrol,
which was
clearly
displaying
UNAMID/United
Nations
insignia,
returned
to base
safely.
The
mission was a
pre-planned
verification
patrol that a
Panel of
Experts
member availed
himself of the
opportunity to
join.
UNAMID
vigorously
protested to
Government
military
authorities in
El Fasher
and Khartoum
over the
incident.
The
incident is
reflected in
paragraph 31
of the Report
of the
Secretary-General
on UNAMID
dated 16
October 2012.
Inner
City Press
went back to
this report,
and found this
in Paragraph
31:
“on 26
September, two
Sudanese Armed
Forces attack
helicopters
flew
at low
altitude over
a UNAMID
patrol that
was returning
from an
assessment
mission near
Thabit. The
authorities
claimed that
the
aircraft
mistook the
patrol for an
armed movement
convoy. The
patrol
returned to
base safely.
UNAMID
protested to
the Government
over the
incident.”
So
UNAMID's
October 2012
report to the
Council did
not mention
that
there was a
member of the
Panel of
Experts with
the convoy; it
did
not mention
that patrol
“was clearly
displaying
UNAMID/United
Nations
insignia,” not
the “vigor”
with which
UNAMID now
says
it protested.
Since
UNAMID never
put out even a
press release
(when for
example its
sister mission
MONUSCO
in the Congo
on January 30
devoted a full
press release
to denouncing
a publication
by Inner City
Press, but
then wouldn't
point to a
single factual
mistake) leads
one to
question how
“vigorous” the
protest was.
Stepping
back,
the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous
appears to
have little
consistency.
It has become
under
Ladsous, as at
least one DPKO
whistleblower
puts it, “pure
politics.”
Watch this
site.
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