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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.

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After Sudan Air Strikes on Darfur, UN Initially Declines to Condemn, Finally Gambari

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- With reports off Sudan's government bombing and killing 13 civilians in South Darfur over the weekend, Inner City Press at Monday's UN noon briefing asked spokesman Martin Nesirky what envoy Ibrahim Gambari of UNAMID had to say about the bombings.

  Nesirky pulled out a piece of paper and read out that UNAMID could confirm air strikes on two villages by the Sudanese Air Force.

  The UN's growing silence on these issues led Inner City Press to asked, does the UN view it as legitimate in Sudan for the government to bomb civilians?

  Nesirky wouldn't say, replied only “I've answered your question.”

  By contrast, Nesirky on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon alleged that then-leader of Cote d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo was importing helicopters from Belarus, without having any confirmation at all.

  On Darfur, Nesirky did not disclose the UN's awareness of government air strikes until asked, and then declined to condemn the strikes. There is a mounting history of government air strikes on Darfur, well documented at http://www.sudanbombing.org/, on which the UN has remained increasingly silent.

Update: later, Nesirky's office sent Inner City Press the following:

Subject: Your questions on Darfur
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 16, 2011
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Following your questions on Darfur at noon, please note the following, just issued by UNAMID:

UNAMID Chief deeply troubled over recent air strikes in South Darfur

El Fasher, 16 May 2011— African Union - United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari is deeply concerned over recent air strikes in South Darfur.

The aerial attacks, carried out yesterday by Sudanese Forces, affected the population of Labado town and Esheraya village, located 30km south of El Daein.

While the number of casualties and possible displacements cannot yet be accurately determined, the Mission is nevertheless troubled at the actions carried out by the Sudanese Air Force.

Civilians are invariably the real and most numerous victims in any conflict. I call upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint in the use of lethal force. All belligerents have a moral responsibility and obligation to respect humanitarian law and the rights of the innocent caught in the violence,” said JSR Gambari. At present, the Mission is sending teams to the locations to investigate the incidents.

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.

Click for Mar 1, '11 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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