On
S.
Sudan Border, Few Rights Monitors, Blockage by Haroun, CPA to Expire
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 28 -- Twelve days before South Sudan's independence,
things on the still undecided border with Sudan do not look good. On
June 27 the UN Security Council voted to authorize a force of
Ethiopian soldiers to police Abyei for six months, but with little to
no civilian component.
Meanwhile
the UN,
which previously flew the National Congress Party's man in Southern
Kordofan Ahmed Haroun to meeting about Abyei, despite Haroun being
indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in
Darfur, belatedly criticizes Haroun for denying access to Kadugli
during what's called ethnic cleansing, and having kept the airport
closed.
At least
three UN staff remain in detention by Sudanese
intelligence.
On
June 27, Inner
City Press asked the acting deputy spokesman for Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon Farhan Haq how the Secretariat and UN Peacekeeping intend
to monitor
human rights in Abyei. Haq said "the
way in which the human
rights monitoring will be done will be reported to the Security
Council; we’ll let you know at that point" -- that is, a full month off.
On
June 28, a
self-described UN official to his credit provided somewhat more
information, on background (that is, only if identified as a UN
official and without direct quotation.)
Inner
City Press
asked the UN official how human rights will be monitored. The answer
was that the small civilian accompaniment to the Ethiopian deployment
may be able to slip in a couple of reporting officers. It was said
that the Abyei or UNISFA resolution is a problem, under UN
principles.
The
same may happen
with any UN involvement in the border between Sudan and its Southern
neighbor: the UN may be asked to monitor from only one side, the
South, and therefore only be able to monitor incursions from the
North. The UN attends the negotiations in Addis Ababa and tries to
say what it can and cannot or should not do, but seems not to be
listened to.
The
UN official,
again to his credit, explained a bit more on the incident in Magennes
in which Sudan detained from a UN helicopter UN staff and,
incongruously, US and UK diplomats. (Click here for
Inner City Press' exclusive
story on the incident.) The UN official said that the
area is physically under the control of the South, but the detentions
were made.
A UN helicopter in Sudan - but not for long?
Ethiopian tanks not shown
An
overarching
problem is that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement appears to expire
on July 9. The UN is supposed to leave North Sudan then -- absent a
demarche from the Security Council that the UN
official said
may or may not be coming -- and even in South Sudan, UNMIS' mandate
expires.
The
UN official
predicted that the US-sponsored resolution for a new mission in South
Sudan may only be ready on July 8. The official said that not only
Ban Ki-moon, but also President of the General Assembly Joseph Deiss
should be attending the ceremony on July 9 in Juba.
Omar al
Bashir,
indicted by the ICC, “will be there,” Sudan's Permanent
Representative told Inner City Press on June 27. And how will all
this impact the freedom of movement, and credibility, of the joint UN
and African Union Mission in Darfur, UNAMID? Watch this site.
* * *
On
Abyei, Ban Won't Disclose Rights Plan
Until After July 9, Bashir Will Be There: Handshakes or Handcuffs?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 27 -- After a fight in
the Security Council about
including a human rights monitoring unit in the upcoming Ethiopian
force in Abyei, the Council on Monday adopted a resolution that
merely “requests the Secretary-General to ensure that effective
human right monitoring is carried out.” But how?
Inner
City Press
asked UK Deputy Permanent Representative Philip Parham how human
rights will be monitored by the Ethiopian force itself, if there is
no civilian component. As transcribed by the UK Mission, Parham
replied that “the Security Council resolution mandating UNISFA, as
you have seen, requires the Secretary General to ensure human rights
monitoring, and that is what he will do, by whatever are the best
means available.”
Inner
City Press
asked about the lack of any civilian component; Parham replied:
“The
establishment of this mission has obviously happened at speed in
circumstances that are relatively unusual and it will be for the
Secretary General to work out what the best way to achieve what the
Security Council has asked it to do, which is to ensure that there is
effective monitoring of Human Rights.”
If
it's for
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to work it out, then Ban's
spokesperson's office should have some answers, or at least
preliminary ideas.
But when
Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about what Parham had said, and asked for
example if the monitoring will be done out of the UNMIS mission in
South Sudan, Haq not only didn't answer: he said no answer will be
provided until Ban submits his required reports to the Security
Council. Ah, transparency.
Ban & Bashir, right monitoring plan not shown:
shaking on July 9?
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman also came to take Press
questions. Inner City Press asked him about the UN staff arrested in
South Kordofan. He replied that they are only “in custody,” for
their own protection.
Inner
City Press
asked his if President Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide and war
crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court, will be present
at South Sudan's independence declaration on July 9 in Juba.
Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman answers, as to Bashir, “He will be
there.”
Given
their duties
under the ICC's Rome Statute, what will other attendees do? 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.
, 
in