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On
Darfur, UN's Three Voices Leave
JEM and NGO Questions Unanswered
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- In Darfur, the joint African Union - UN
mission has
three main officials, only one of whom, Rodolphe Adada, speaks with the
press
in New York. A fourth, General Karake Karenzi who was
charged with war crimes, is now
leaving the mission.
Mediator Bassole
came to New York, but had no media
availabilities. General Martin Luther Agwai, the force commander, also
comes to
New York, but as Inner
City Press reported last week, his wife got a job with
the UN Medical Service while moonlighting for a Nigerian NGO. This
leaves Mr.
Adada in his bow tie, speaking to the Security Council and reporters on
April
27.
Adada dodged a number of questions, and gave rosy
answers to others.
Inner City Press asked him about confirmed reports that the Nepali UN
police in
Nyala are grounded, their armored personnel carriers stuck in Port
Sudan. Adada
said that is up to the troop contributing country. Inner City Press
said, as
DPKO told it, that the Nepalis are being required to go to the Czech
Republic
for training.
UN-AU's Adada, Agwai and Karenzi, third man out
Subj: Question on Nepal FPU
From: DPKO
To: Inner City Press
CC: Office of the Spokesperson
Sent: 3/31/2009 7:09:37 P.M.
Eastern Daylight Time
Hi Matthew, regarding your
question at the Noon Briefing , here's what we have for you:
"There is a Nepalese formed police
unit (140 strong), which has deployed to Nyala with all of its own
equipment,
except for eight armored personnel carriers (APCs) of Czech origin. The
APCs
have not been deployed from Port Sudan yet as the training package for
these
vehicles was not able to deploy in country due to visa restrictions on
the
technicians. To fix this, there's now an agreement now in place to send
a
Nepalese police personnel to the Czech Republic for training with these
APCs."
Adada said
he wasn't sure about that, that any
"blockade" could be addressed with the Sudanese government. But what
about the UN's or Nepali Army's incompetence?
Adada was glowing in his review of both the Justice
and Equality
Movement rebels, and Minni Minawi. Of the former, Adada did not answer
Inner City Press' question about the impact of the death sentences
handed down this month in Khartoum to 11 members of JEM for their role
in the 2008 assault stopped across the Nile in Omdurman. Of the latter,
Adada said he wanted to not
be a part of the government, but is. Video here,
from Minute 23:45.
He said he
has information from the mediator -- Mr. Bassole -- that JEM will in
fact
rejoin the Doha talks. But when Inner City Press asked about charges by
NGOs
on a UN-affiliated web site that the government is shaking them down,
Adada said he doesn't cover
humanitarian issues, the UN's OCHA would know. Video here,
from Minute 34:58.
We're still waiting. Watch this site.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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