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

At UN on Darfur, Dispute about “Enabling Environment," ICC Referral Removed

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 -- Disputes about how much the UN Security Council should try to “pull the strings” of the Darfur Peace Process as one member put it caused three delays of Friday's vote to renew the mandate of the UNAMID peacekeeping mission: from three to five to six pm.

  Ultimately the Council voted 15-0 for a resolution which refers to needing an “enabling environment” for the Darfur Peace Process. Inner City Press is putting the resolution online, here.

  A source well-placed in the negotiations told Inner City Press that the US didn't want reference to UNAMID's "further" engagement in the DPP -- perhaps wanting no engagement at all.

  South African Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told Inner City Press that giving the Security Council a “veto” over UNAMID's participation in the Darfur Peace Process “undermined the African Union.”

 In the chamber Sangqu said he was disappointed with the Council's “timid” approach to following the AU's embrace of the DPP. Nigeria and Gabon also took the floor to this effect.

  After the vote, UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant explained to Inner City Press that the first step will be the Secretary General's report, to see if the enabling environment has been created.

  The US, represented by its Deputy Rosemary DiCarlo spoke only in the Chamber where she said the Council will also listen to the AU in deliberating if the enabling enviroment exists.

  Specifics about this “enabling environment” are in the resolution's seventh operative paragraph, the one most objected to by African and other members. Other references were moved to the perambular, that is non-operative, paragraphs.

   India's Deputy Permanent Representative Mandeep Singh Puri, who did not speak in the chamber after the vote, told Inner City Press that UNAMID is a hybrid with the AU, and the UN should respect the AU.

  Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative Sasha Pankin told Inner City Press that the Council shouldn't “pull the strings” of UNAMID, but “how” the Mission participated in the DPP was up to the Council, since UNAMID is a creature of the Council.

  A Sudanese diplomat bragged that the negotiations took out of the draft any reference to Resolution 1593, which referred Darfur to the International Criminal Court and requires ICC briefings of the Council. President Omar al Bashir and Southern Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun, among others, have been indicted after the Resolution 1593 referral to the ICC.

(The UK's Lyall Grant acknowledged reference to Resolution 1593 had come out, but pointed to a perambular paragraph about justice.)

Gambari being "interviewed" by UN: Kordofan answers and DPP enabling enviro not shown

  Meanwhile regarding Southern Kordofan, Inner City Press on July 29 asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky

Inner City Press: the SPLM-North — and you will see where I am going with this — they say that they have now surrounded the city, Kadugli in Southern Kordofan, and have blocked the airport; they say so to stop the aerial bombardment in the Nuba Mountains. And I understand that the UN doesn’t, you know, all the things that you’ve said, that they can’t patrol, but it strikes me if, if the UN — and I don’t know how many troops are still left there of the Egyptian battalion — but is the UN, can the UN confirm or say something about reports of now the surrounding of Kadugli, the airport being closed, since that would even impact on the UN’s ability to get its peacekeepers out? Is there any knowledge of what’s happening there?

Spokesperson Nesirky: My colleagues in Peacekeeping Operations are seeking to provide information, including on the number of peacekeepers who remain in Southern Kordofan. I don’t have that information to hand. We have asked for it. But the fact remains, as you have mentioned yourself, I have made it clear before that the peacekeepers who are there and have not yet been able to leave, they do not have a mandate to patrol or indeed to operate in any way. Should there be something that they are passing back to Headquarters, then obviously we would make that known. But to my knowledge that is not the case.

  In fact, outgoing DPKO chief Alain Le Roy told Inner City Press later on July 29 that he thinks the remaining peacekeepers in Southern Kordofan cannot legally report, only the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights can, and they cannot get visas.

  So the UN is in Southern Kordofan, but says not only that it cannot DO anything, it cannot even report anything. A Council diplomat whom Inner City Press asked about this on Friday called it “awkward.” That is being diplomatic.