At
UN
on Sudan,
Darfur in
Darkness,
Kordofan
Report
Delayed,
Will Pillay
Explain?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
At the UN less
and less is
done about
Sudan, on
government
abuses in
Darfur and
Southern
Kordofan,
regarding
which
the UN is
withholding a
damning human
right report,
which
criticizes
UN inaction,
for well more
than a week
now.
Three
week ago UN
official Ivan
Simonovic told
the Press that
the report, an
advance
copy of which
Inner City
Press had
already put
online,
would be
released in
two weeks. Now
it still has
not been, but
the UN will
not
explain and
instead seeks
to further
limit
questions from
the press.
Simonovic's
boss
Navi Pillay
will brief the
Security
Council on
August 18,
along with
top UN
humanitarian
Valerie Amos;
the topic as
bragged about
by the
French mission
will by Syria,
with nothing
on Sudan.
The withheld
report, as "leaked," says that
UN
peacekeepers
then under the
ultimate
control of now
departed DPKO
chief Alain Le
Roy did
nothing as
civilians were
killed. For
example:
42.
On 8 June,
UNMIS Human
Rights
witnessed the
movement of
four armed men
(two armed
civilians and
two Central
Reserve
Police)
carrying
weapons in and
out of the
UNMIS
Protective
Perimeter without any
intervention
from the UNMIS
peacekeepers
guarding the
premises.
With the top
UN
Peacekeeping
post now empty
at this
important
time, with
another
Frenchman, mostly
likely Jerome
Bonnafont,
in waiting,
perhaps this
explains DPKO
blocking-by-edits
the report,
and Pillay's
so far limited
August 18
agenda for
briefing the
Council.
At
the UN's noon
briefing on
August 12,
Inner City
Press posed
several Sudan
questions
to UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan
Haq:
Inner
City
Press:
Sudanese armed
forces
helicopters
are buzzing
and making
hostile
movements
around the
Zamzam refugee
camp in
Darfur. So I
wanted to
know, is that
something that
UNAMID
[African
Union-United
Nations Hybrid
Operation in
Darfur] is
aware of?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: We’d have
to check
whether it is.
As is
the case, some
of these
reports on the
ground have
not checked
out. But we’ll
check with
UNAMID to see
whether this
is, whether
this
holds up.
Inner
City
Press: And
what about the
Southern
Kordofan human
rights report,
I think Mr.
Simonovic, it
was three
weeks ago
today, was in
here and
said it would
be released in
two weeks.
What’s the
hold up?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: There is
no hold up.
It’s being
finalized, and
when we know
for sure that
it is coming
out, we will
certainly tell
you.
If
there's no
hold
up, why does
it take more
than three
weeks to
"finalize" a
completed
report about a
situation as
grave as
Southern
Kordofan?
Ban
& Pillay
& Deputy
Kang, withhold
Kordofan
report not
shown
Meanwhile
in the
Security
Council on
Southern
Kordofan, the
US only asked
for a press
statement, and
according to
the US
Mission's
statement
given Friday
to AP withdrew
even that,
blaming Russia
and China.
(For a UNSC
Press
Statement, any
Council member
can block it,
not only the
Permanent
veto wielding
members.)
Now
one wonders if
the US, or
France or UK,
will at least
have Pillay
and Amos when
they
are in the
Council give
an update on
Southern
Kordofan,
including the
UN report that
seems to be
getting swept
under the rug.
*
* *
Amid
Conflicts in
Libya, Syria,
Sudan &
Kosovo, Horn
of Africa Famine,
UN Reduces
Q&A
by 40%, Has
"Nothing to
Say"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
As the Arab
Spring turns
to a bloody
late
summer, and
according to
the UN famine
spreads in the
Horn of
Africa, UN
headquarters
in New York
Friday
confirmed it
is moving to
reduce its
availability
to the
press by 40%.
With
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon back
in his native
South Korea,
Inner City
Press
on August 12
asked Ban's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq to
explain why
two of the
expected five
daily
briefings next
week, and
possible the
week after
that, are
being canceled
at this time.
Haq
replied that
there would be
"nothing to
say," and
accused Inner
City
Press of being
the only one
"worried about
this one way
or
another,"
claiming to
have polled
journalists at
the UN and
gotten their
agreement to
cancel
briefings.
Haq
refused to
provide any
details of his
polling; at a
press-related
event hosted
by the US
Mission to the
UN the evening
of August 11,
there were a
number of
complaints
about Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office
refusing to
even do a
daily ten
minute
briefing, as
Inner City
Press had
reported,
despite events
in the world.
Even
on the
questions
asked of Haq
on August 11,
few were
answered.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
reported
"buzzing" of
the Zam Zam
IDP
camp in Darfur
by Sudan's air
force. Haq had
no information
on this,
and said that
"some of these
reports have
not checked
out."
Three weeks
ago, UN
official Ivan
Simonovic said
that the UN's
human rights
report about
Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan, which
includes
descriptions
of Egyptian UN
peacekeepers
doing nothing
as civilians
were kiled,
would be
formally
released "in
two weeks."
Inner City
Press asked
Haq to explain
the delay, one
week and
counting. Haq
said it isn't
delay, he'll
announce when
it's released.
In the
Security
Council, there
are countries
dissatisfied
by the UN's
delay, and
trying to get
emergency
meetings of
the Council.
The
Secretariat's
lackadaisical
delay and
Haq's
statement that
these weeks
there's
"nothing to
say" sends a
message: there
is no
emergency, or
even urgency.
Any
response to
letters to Ban
from municipal
officials in
Northern
Kosovo? No,
Haq
said, the
letters are
being
"studied."
Haq at
briefing on
Haiti,
responses to
Qs not shown:
nothing to
say?
For
months Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office claimed
that a letter
from the New
York State
AFL-CIO then a
group of
Congresspeople
about UN
attacks on the
broadcast
engineers'
union was
"being
studied." On
August
12, Haq
confirmed
Inner City
Press' August
11 report that
seven more
engineers are
being laid
off, on top of
17 other posts
lost, as a
"cost cutting"
move.
Inner
City Press
asked Haq if
the 40%
reduction in
briefings is a
cost cutting
move.
Haq replied
that it's
"standard
procedure."
But what about
Ban Ki-moon's
repeated
canned claim
to be "deeply
concerned"
about the loss
of civilian
lives in a
conflict in
Libya in which
under Security
Council
resolution
1973 Ban is to
have a
coordinating
role? Because
it's August
(Haq said
Ban's lead
spokesman is
out to August
29) -- and
Ramadan --
will there be
"nothing to
say" about
that?
In
fact, at least
in Syria and
Libya, it has
been said that
"every day
will be
protest Friday
during
Ramadan." Is
this the time
for the UN to
cancel
briefings and
press question
and answer
sessions?
Inner
City Press
asked, asks
and will
continue
asking, what
is the problem
with
devoting a ten
minute
briefing each
week day to
answering
questions?
Watch this
site.
, 
