UNITED NATIONS, May 21 -- When indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir holds an inauguration on May 27 for having won the recent fraud and violence plagued election, two senior UN official will be in attendance: Haile Menkerios and Ibrahim Gambari, Inner City Press was told on Friday.
On May 20, Inner City Press asked the Spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon:
Inner City Press: who from the UN system if anyone will be attending the inauguration of Omer Al-Bashir on 27 May? There has been a call by some human rights groups that various world leaders should not attend. Who is attending for the UN? Mr. Menkerios? Do you know?
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I’ll find out who has the invitation card.
Question: [So the UN is going to] go, I mean, there is no question?
Spokesperson Nesirky: That’s not what I said. I said I’ll find out where the invitation card, who received the invitation card. Those cards usually have an RSVP on them, and we can let you know how, whether there has been an RSVP.
On May 21 Nesirky's deputy Marie Okabe responded that both Menkerios and Gambari will attend, calling them "the senior UN officials on the ground... in contact with the host government regularly to ensure that their missions are able to function effectively." Video here, from Minute 5:16.
While the International Criminal Court makes UN interaction with Bashir controversial, this phrasing about contact necessary to run the UN missions is rationale for contacts. But how is attending the inauguration necessary?
Also on May 21, Inner City Press asked the UN's Nesirky:
Inner City Press: The Minister of Communications of the South Sudanese Government, Paul Mayom, has criticised UN Radio Miraya for putting on rebel General [George] Athor and he said not only that he was wrong, he said I can stop it. He closed down the radio station for undermining stability in South Sudan. What does the UN think of his statement?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, we’re aware of the statements, and I know that my colleagues there on the ground have indeed been speaking to the Ministry concerned. It was the Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan from UNMIS who had a meeting with the Minister of Information, and I am informed that they discussed, in a constructive manner, matters of mutual interest. And the Minister of Information expressed concerns about Radio Miraya and its coverage. And I am advised that these concerns are being addressed by the radio station. The point about this radio station is that it is committed to promoting the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the culture of peace in Sudan with objectivity and professionalism.
Inner City Press: When you say it’s addressed, does the UN agree that it should not put on rebel, you know, renegade Generals like Mr. Athor, or are they going to continue to…?
Spokesperson Nesirky: What I said is that it’s being addressed.
Inner City Press: Oh, okay.
Spokesperson: Not that it has been addressed. Apologies if I misspoke. I thought I said these concerns are being addressed by the radio station.
Inner City Press: [inaudible] in terms of what the editorial policy of the UN radio station is to put on rebel…
Spokesperson: Well, this is a UN-sponsored radio station, not a UN radio station, as I understand it. But the point is that the coverage of the elections just as one example — but an important example — was marked by neutrality and professionalism, and as I have mentioned just now, a commitment to the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
While Ms. Okabe did not provide any further information on this on May 21, at the previous evening's reception for Cameroon's 50th anniversary of independence, Sudan's Permanent Representative to the UN told Inner City Press that the UN should put this anti-South Sudan government on the air.
And so the government of Omar al-Bashir, usually critical of the United Nations and of freedom of the press, is ironically supporting UN-affiliated Radio Mireya in its dispute with Southern Sudan for putting renegade general Athor on the air. And the UN's two most senior officials in Sudan will attend an indicted war criminal's inauguration. And so it goes.
