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US Says South Sudan Shot First In Abyei, UN Still Silent, Who Else'll Speak?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 -- As the conflict in Abyei escalates, what does the US know that the UN doesn't? Saturday night US spokesman Jay Carney issued a threat to Sudan, while noting that “the United States deplored the May 19 attack by Southern forces on a United Nations convoy that was transporting a Sudan Armed Forces company.”

  But the UN, which was present during the attack, has yet to assign blame. At the UN's May 20 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky who was responsible for starting the May 19 fighting: “what was the UN’s own observation, being there present at the time of the shooting, of who started it?”

  Rather than saying what the UN, which was there, has seen, Nesirky again called for the combatants to investigate it themselves, saying “isn’t that what an investigation is supposed to ascertain?”

But in short order, Khartoum dissolved the Abyei administration, and tanks were rolling. The Security Council confirmed what was already known -- due to the threat of International Criminal Court indictee Ahmed Haroun showing up on the tarmac in Kadulgi: they would not visit.

But can they accomplish in Khartoum and Juba, even armed with Jay Carney's statement? And will any other country other than the US speak out on it, unilaterally or bilaterally as the case may be?


UN air craft near Abyei, UN ascribing blame, UNSC and Haroun not shown

From the UN's May 20 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: first I wanted to ask you about, in Sudan, this incident, this shooting incident in Dokura, yesterday. The SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] have denied reports that they were the ones that fired; in fact, they are saying that the North, that Northern soldiers who were retreating fired first. So I just wonder, since the UN was there, and was… you are calling for an investigation by the parties, but the parties have already said, each has a totally different story. So what can the UN do to find… if they were there, who fired first and what are they taking to…?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, isn’t that the point? If we are asking for an investigation by the parties, that’s what needs to happen, that there should be an immediate investigation into the incident and then appropriate action taken against the perpetrators. We’ve strongly condemned, and the Mission has strongly condemned, this attack. We’ve said this is a serious breach of previous agreements and also it was an attack, a criminal attack, against the United Nations.

Inner City Press: My question is, if they were present, maybe there is a mechanism that needs to investigate it, but what was the UN’s own observation, being there present at the time of the shooting, of who started it?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, isn’t that what an investigation is supposed to ascertain? And that’s why there should be an immediate investigation into the incident.

Too late. Watch this site.

* * *

As UN Won't Blame for Abyei Violence, Council Visit in Doubt, Haroun Looms

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- As the UN Security Council mission approaches Sudan, its long planned stopover in Abyei is in doubt.

 A Council Permanent Representative predicted to Inner City Press on Friday that Abyei “will be canceled,” leaving only Khartoum and Juba in Sudan. Darfur was already left out of the trip.

  As Inner City Press exclusively reported, Sudan and some Council members pointed to the claimed electoral win as South Kordofan government of Ahmed Haroun as a militating against the Council refusing to meet with Haroun, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.

  French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud told Inner City Press, “We will not meet with him.”

  But another Permanent Representative, pointing to Haroun's win and “the UN welcoming” it, asked on what basis other Council memberswould avoid the governor of a state they sought to visit.

Now despite earlier claims that UN Peacekeeping could safety get the ambassadors to Abyei via the Wau or Kadugli airports, the talk is of canceling the Abyei leg of the trip.

  Also being cited is recent fighting in Abyei -- fighting which even those the UN peacekeepers were right there to witness they are declining to assign any blame for.

* * *

As Sudan Asks Why Haroun Shouldn't Meet UN Council, Journalists Detained

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- With the UN Security Council en route to Africa, their possible encounter in Sudan with Ahmed Haroun, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war cimres in Darfur, remains a wild card.

On May 18 French Ambassador Gerard Araud told Inner City Press, when asked about Haroun, that “we will not meet with him.”

But a Sudanese diplomat on May 19 asked Inner City Press, “Why not? He was just legitimately elected.” The diplomat pointed at the statement by UN Mission in Sudan chief Haile Menkerios welcoming the election on South Kordofan.

At the UN's noon briefing on May 19 Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: on this trip, there are conflicting reports in Sudan about whether the trip includes a stop in Kadugli and Abyei, and whether they will meet with Ahmed Haroun, who is indicted by the ICC [International Criminal Court]. So I wanted to know, you’d said there is more information, I’d try to pass through and see it, but it has… what is the status of, even just the logistics, is the Council in fact going to Abyei via Kadugli and is… will Mr. Haroun be present?

Spokesperson: I think that’s a good idea; pass by and we can give you more details. But to my knowledge, there is no meeting planned with Mr. Haroun, to my knowledge.

  Planning is one thing, and the presence at the airport of the Governor of South Kordofan, declared winner of an election praised by the UN, is another.

  The UN belated provided Inner City Press with this response about journalists detained for covering the election:

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Thu, May 19, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Subject: Your question on journalists in Sudan
To: Matthew.Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com

Regarding your question about the arrests of two journalists in Sudan (Mohamed El Fateh Himma and Rushan Aoushi) on 14 May 2011 in Jebel Awlia (Khartoum State): The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has followed up on that matter with its sources on the ground.

The Mission learned that the two journalists were reportedly returning from Southern Kordofan State when they were stopped on the road by Sudanese Armed Forces Military Intelligence at around 08:00 on 14 May. The journalists were then transferred to the custody of the National Security Service (NSS), which reportedly interrogated them. The two journalists were released by the National Security Service without charge after approximately ten hours.

  And that was the entire response. The UN apparently has no comment on this. 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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