Asked
of
Sudan Flying
Darfur Militia
to Blue Nile,
Ladsous Says
No
Mandate to
Track
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 25,
updated -- The
UN spends over
$1 billion a
year in
Darfur,
purportedly
peacekeeping.
But when
SPLM-North
alleges that
Sudan is
flying
janjawiid
militia from
there to Blue
Nile state,
the
UN's
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous tells
Inner City
Press, "We
have no
mandate to
follow who is
flying from
where."
The
war crimes
charges
against
Sudanese
president Omar
al Bashir and
his Southern
Kordofan
governor Ahmed
Haroun involve
the use of the
janjawiid to
murder Dar,
Fur and Zagawa
people. The UN
and its
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
says it has a
principle of
opposing war
crimes and
genocide and
pursuing
accountability.
So
how can the
UN,
or at least
its new
Peacekeeping
chief, say
there is "no
mandate
to follow who
is flying from
where"?
A Council
diplomat,
asked by Inner
City Press
about Ladsous
statement,
said "that
doesn't sound
right." We'll
see.
(c) UN Photo
Ladsous
takes oath
with Ban
Ki-moon Oct 3,
janjawiid
tracking not
shown
Inner
City Press
asked this
question more
than 29 hours
ago, at
Monday's noon
briefing:
Inner
City
Press; on
Sudan. The
SPLM-North is
saying that
Janjaweed
fighters are
being flown by
the Government
of Sudan from
Darfur,
specifically
from Nyala and
Aljenina, into
Blue Nile
State to
actually fight
there. And so
I wondered, I
understand
that United
Nations
Mission in the
Sudan (UNMIS)
is no longer
on the ground
or
has some
logistical
[liquidation
mission], but
since these
will be
flights from
Darfur, where
the UN does
have a big
peacekeeping
mission, can
the UN verify
this? is
ittrue, is it
not true? If
it
were
happening,
would it be
problematic
and what would
the UN say or
do about it?
Spokesperson:
Let me ask my
peacekeeping
colleagues,
okay?
More
than 29 hour
later, there
had been no
answer.
Ladsous left a
closed door
Security
Council
session and as
he went up the
stairs, Inner
City Press
asked
him the same
question, in
necessarily
shortened
form. The
response
was that "We
have no
mandate to
follow who is
flying from
where."
Really?
Meanwhile
Ladsous
is preparing
to fly to
Juba, Abyei
and Khartoum.
Will he do
anything
at all about
the more and
more detailed
reports of UN
peacekeepers
doing nothing
as people were
killed in
front of their
base in
Kadugli? Watch
this site.
Update:
and
this position
of Ladsous is
(now) the
position of
the UN's
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
from which
after 29 hours
the
following
emerged:
Subject:
Your
question on
Darfur
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
@un.org
Date: Tue, Oct
25, 2011
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
The
Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
informs us
that:
"UNAMID
does
not have a
mandate to
monitor
government
flights in
Darfur and
is hence not
in a position
to verify
this."
, 
