By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unmis2nec032210.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 22 -- Weeks after reports of civilians being killed in Jebel Marra in Darfur, the UN has still not managed to visit the area, Inner City Press has been told. After twice asking about the issue in UN noon briefings, at a background briefing on March 19 by two senior UN officials about Sudan's upcoming elections, the failure to visit Jebal Marra was acknowledged. Later this came in writing:
"Dear Matthew, Kindly find hereby the answer to your question asked during noon briefing regarding Jebel Marra : Has UNAMID accessed Jebel Marra since the recent incident involving the Blue Helmets?
"The Mission is hoping to materialize a security assessment in the next week with a view to then sending humanitarians."
The UN's background briefing in advance of the April 11 elections in Sudan left correspondents scratching their heads. To many, it appeared that following the bad publicity the UN Mission in Afghanistan got, on phantom polling places and the like, the UN wants to "get out in front of the issue" in Sudan, and disclaim any responsibility for fraud.
"It's not for us to judge," said one of the senior UN officials. "Our role is not as observers."
Inner City Press asked about blatant attacks on the press and on the ability of candidates to speak to the public. For example, Sadiq al-Mahdi being unable to broadcast, the National Press Council of Sudan grilling two editors for insulting Omar al-Bashir, a radio station in Juba shut down for a time.
The senior UN official said that each incident was raised, behind the scenes, to the Sudanese authorities, presumably by new UNMIS chief Haile Menkerios. But if the trends of crackdown is raised but just continues, does the UN go public?
