By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 29 -- After reports of Sudanese Armed Forces bombing in the Kiir Adem area of Northern Bhar el ghazal State, last week the UN refused to confirm the attacks, as it has refused to confirm or deny more than a week of bombing in Jebel Marra in North Darfur.
Inner City Press on November 29 asked again, as Southern Sudanese were fleeing the area from fear of more bombings by Khartoum.
This time, UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq answered with a prepared statement, that a patrol of the UN Mission to Sudan on November 25, the US Thanksgiving when the UN in New York was closed, confirmed the bombing. Video here, from Minute 8:53.
Haq said he had been informed that 1500 people were displaced, and that UNMIS filed reports of the bombing with bodies including the Ceasefire Joint Monitoring commission.
It is not clear, particularly given the questions asked last week, why the UN waited to be asked a second time in order to read out this prepared statement. The UN canceled its noon press briefing on November 26, despite the UN in New York ostensibly being open.
Moments after Haq's belated confirmation on November 29, Inner City Press asked the president of the UN Security Council for November, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, what the Council thinks of the bombing in Northern Bhar el ghazal State, particularly in light of the referendum scheduled for January 9, 2011. Video here.
Lyall Grant said that no one had raised it in the Council that morning -- the topics inside the Council included North Korea and Somalia, and outside focused on Wikileaks -- but that since the Council remains seized of Sudan, it will probably come up. Watch this site.
