By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 31 -- The UN in Sudan is living in a dream world. As President Omar al Bashir ended participation in the Darfur peace talks in Doha, UN envoy to Sudan Haile Menkerios praised Bashir's “courage” and leadership.
The joint UN - African Union mediator Djibril Bassole issued a UN propaganda statement about the Doha process, entirely ignoring Bashir's move and the facts on the ground.
Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman about reported rapes near UN peacekeepers in Darfur and was told to just “ask UNAMID.”
But ever since Inner City Press in October with the UN Security Council visited the Joint UN - African Union Mission in Darfur inquiring about UNAMID's Ibrahim Gambari's moves to hand five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur over to Bashir, that Mission has refused to answer any of the questions Inner City Press has submitted.
Meanwhile Ban's spokesman has simply ignored and refused to acknowledge receipt of this question:
On Sudan, please confirm or deny that the Department of Political Affairs in a recent briefing to NGOs said that
UN projects no consolidated results before end Jan – result likely to be announced February 2.
Major technical challenges now are training staff, deploying materials, and being ready to handle results management (this is still a serious risk because little done to prepare for results period)
Probability of extension to polling remains high
Arab League visit to Sudan (Qaddafi and Mubarak) - castigated Bashir, pretty clear now that LAS will not try to spoil what is almost international consensus on recognition - there is even talk they will offer an independent S. Sudan membership in the LAS.
Bosnian Presidency likely to take cues from US and UK.
Ban's Spokesman's Office has now twice ignored this question about statements that NGOs have to Inner City Press attributed to Ban's DPA. The UN tries to live in its own world about Sudan. But in 2011, this will be more difficult. Watch this site.
