By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unmis1nec031510.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 15 -- The UN and its leadership have said that the elections in Sudan are a main focus for 2010, for their UNMIS mission which spends $1 billion a year.
Yet when a major opposition party asks UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to look into and act on allegations that the printing ballots for the election was shifted from Slovenia to a government-connected printer in Sudan, UNMIS says it only provides technical assistance, and Ban's spokesman defers to UNMIS.
Ban's spokesman on March 15 told Inner City Press, "UNMIS has a very clear mandate." But does it? Even the chief of the UN Department of Field Support has said the mandate should be expanded (or is being too narrowly read).
Since people will take the UN presence in Sudan and partial participation in the election as some assurance against the worst of irregularities, is it appropriate for the UN to say "we only provide technical assistance"?
Inner City Press asked for the UN Secretariat's response to Sudan's opposition
"Umma Reform and Renewal Party's... concern over alleged switching the process of printing voting slips from abroad to presses inside Sudan that belong to the NCP — a move they would lead to duplicate papers and ballot box stuffing... URRP leader Mubarak Al-Fadil said in a statement that the NEC acknowledged this with the consent of Ray Kennedy, Chief Electoral Affairs Officer for the UN Mission in Sudan...
'This requires investigation from the UN Secretary General on the actions of the UN official and his contribution towards fraud. We will submit a complaint to the UN Secretary General based on the response of the [NEC] commission memo.'... The commission said a bid for printing the voting slips was advertised and two Sudanese companies secured it and that due to time constraints one set of the cards was diverted from a Slovenian company to a Sudanese one stressing that at each step this process was made with the participation of UNMIS elections office."
Nesirky pointed to a press release by UNMIS, picked up by Sudanese state media for the proposition tha the UN is only providing "technical assitance." But Inner City Press asked, what is Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's response to the Umma Party's request, directed to him by name, for an investigation? Video here, from Minute 14:47.
Nesirky said that "UNMIS is on the ground... they provide guidance back to headquarters." Some thought that "guidance" is supposed to come from the leadership of the Organization. The mission on the ground might feed information back to headquarters, but ultimately UN Headquarters and Ban Ki-moon are responsible, no?
"If a specific missive has been directed to the S-G," Nesirky said, "I'm sure some response will be made." He added he was not aware of any such "missive." Umma has said it will "submit a complaint to the UN Secretary General" -- what is the protocol? Watch this site.
Footnote: Inner City Press asked a Sudanese government representative about the ballot printing issue, and he responded by saying that the Umma Party is mad at the UN because Ban's most recent report was "too pro government." He and Khartoum like this.
