Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

On S. Sudan Vote & Ban's Panel, UN Dodges Questions of Payment, Diaspora Visits

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- With questions mounting about the registration process for the Southern Sudan secession referendum scheduled for January 9, the UN is withholding basic information about the Panel to which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “outsourced” key parts of the UN's role.

  At media briefings by Ban's spokesperson, Inner City Press has asked about how the Panel is funded, which registration sites they have visited in the United States, Canada, Ethiopia and Kenya, and whether they are implicitly trying to blame the SPML for under-registration of Southern Sudanese in the Northern part of the country and/or in the eight “diapora” countries in which polling would be held.

  UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq has declined to answer many of these questions, referring instead to a separate spokesperson's office set up for the panel. While Inner City Press has sent this “outsourced” office two recent rounds of questions, only one has been answered, and then only partially.

  This seems to be a pattern at the UN -- to name a Panel and then refuse to answer questions about the subject matter outsourced to the Panel.

  Left unanswered for example is when the registration site in four of the diaspora countries -- Australia, Egypt, Uganda and the United Kingdom -- will be visited and by whom, how much Panel chair Benjamin Mkapa has been paid and by whom, and what he meant when he blamed “some Southerners” for blocking registration in the North of Southern Sudanese.

Salva Kiir & Benjamin Mkapa, UN answers on funding & diaspora not shown

  Herebelow in order are Inner City Press' two rounds of question, both of which were copied to Ban Ki-moon's two top spokespeople without response, the UN Panel spokesman's partial response to the first round, and the second round un-responded to for more than 24 hours:

Hi. I would like responses on deadline to the following questions, as well as those I asked at the OSSG's noon briefings on November 22 and November 19:

How many people work for the Panel?

How much has thus far been paid to these people and to each of the three Panelists?

How much of this has come from the Basket Fund, and how much through UNMIS?

What is the status for each donor or pledger to the Basket Fund?

As asked November 19, has a vote by the Basket Fund group been taken regarding funding the Panel? If not, why not?

How much has been paid from the Basket Fund (or UNMIS) to IOM?

In which of the eight diaspora states have registration sites actually been visited?

Please provide updated registration figures or estimates for each diaspora country, as well as the number and location of registration (and polling) sites in each.

As asked November 22, on the statement “made from the Secretary-General’s Panel on the referendum. There seems to be a lot of controversy about the low numbers of Southern registrants in the North. Some people are putting the number as low as 9,000. So it seemed like, in your statement, you are saying some Southerners are encouraging other Southerners — I just want to understand, because the SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] blames it all on Khartoum.”

When the Panel chair referred to “a campaign by some Southern leaders to encourage people not to register and vote outside Southern Sudan” was he referring to any SPLM role or not?

Separately, why is there no Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General briefing on November 26?

These were partially responded to by the Panel's spokesman:

Matthew, The Panel will have 38 staff when it reaches full deployment, which is expected by the end of this month. They are paid regular salaries just like any other UN staff members.

Any questions about the basket fund should be directed to UNDP.

Registration sites have been visited in Canada, Ethiopia, Kenya and the United States. Staff are about to visit sites in Australia, Egypt, Uganda and the United Kingdom as well.

IOM is conducting registration in the diaspora countries, so it will have the figures on the number of people registering and the number of sites. The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission will have the equivalent information for within Sudan.

The Panel chair was referring to Southern leaders and not to any specific SPLM role.

This response openly evaded the question for example of how much Benjamin Mkapa has been paid, as well as declining to answer questions about the Basket Fund to which the spokesman, and the Office of the Spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, has repeatedly made reference. And so these follow ups were submitted more than 24 hours ago to both UN offices:

Thanks but I again ask, with emphasis: How much has thus far been paid to each of the three Panelists? What you sent implies that they are “like any other UN staff members.” Are the three Panelists paid “When Actually Employed”? When have they so far been actually employed? How much have they been paid and by / through which mechanism: UNMIS or Basket Fund?

Please specify (with address) the registration sites the Panel has already visited in Canada, Ethiopia, Kenya and the United States, and will visit in Australia, Egypt, Uganda and the United Kingdom including date and who visit(ed).

And I am still asking for your (and OSSG/UNMIS) response or update on para 14 ofUnited Nations A/65/571 of 12 November 2010, Financing arrangements for the United Nations Mission in the Sudan for the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011, Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions

“14. Concerning the requirements for the Secretary-General’s Panel, the Committee noted that, in paragraph 78 of his report to the Security Council on the Sudan (S/2010/528), the Secretary-General had indicated that it was expected that UNDP would contribute an amount of $0.9 million. Upon enquiry, the Committee was informed that the provision of those funds was uncertain, as the UNDP project documents for the referenda in the Sudan did not include the activities of the Panel and it would, therefore, require a decision by the basket fund steering committee. As such, no immediate disbursements could be made to facilitate the deployment of Panel support staff. The Committee was informed that should UNDP succeed in mobilizing resources for supporting the Panel, reimbursement to UNMIS would be made. The Advisory Committee is of the view that the Mission should continue to pursue this issue with UNDP and requests that further information on the status of the contribution be included in the context of the performance report.”

What is the status? What has UNMIS / DPKO / the Secretariat done? On deadline, thanks.

And after 24 hours and counting, no answer at all. Watch this site.

From the UN's November 22 transcript:

Inner City Press: I want to ask about Sudan on the statement that you made from the Secretary-General’s Panel on the referendum. There seems to be a lot of controversy about the low numbers of Southern registrants in the North. Some people are putting the number as low as 9,000. So it seemed like, in your statement, you are saying some Southerners are encouraging other Southerners — I just want to understand, because the SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] blames it all on Khartoum.

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: Well, that was just a summary of a press conference that President Mkapa held in Khartoum, and I’d just refer you to the transcript of that. We have that available in our office.

Inner City Press: And does the Secretary-General’s Panel have any role in overseeing these sites, these eight Diaspora voting sites in Africa, the United States, Australia? Are they going to visit any of those sites? And there is some controversy now about the IOM [International Organization for Migration] role in it. It’s not exactly clear to me who is funding the IOM for that work, but what is the Panel’s role on these other sites?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson: No, you can check with the Panel itself about the sites. It’s looking at the whole referenda process, which includes sites for Southerners to vote in the North.

Inner City Press: But isn’t his Panel — I have had some problem in the past getting responses from the Panel, so I just wanted to know, it’s the Secretary-General, he set up the terms of reference, it’s his delegated Panel, right?