By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- The UN says it is not forgetting or trying to cover up Sudanese government abuse in Darfur, but both appear to be going on.
The UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Georg Charpentier in a press conference in Khartoum this week said that despite the raised level of violent deaths in Darfur in 2010, the figure is exaggerated because it includes tribe on tribe murders. (Of course, the UN is reporting and highlighting just such numbers in Cote d'Ivoire and attributing tribal killings to the government in power there.)
On January 18, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky what the UN and the UN - African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) under Ibrahim Gambari have to say about the reported torture of Darfur activists including the editor of the Al Sahafa newspaper.
Nesirky had no information, bu the next day sent an email that UNAMID is looking into it. Since then, nothing.
Similarly, Nesirky's office has refused since last year to confirm or deny notes from a presentation about Sudan by the UN Department of Political Affairs that were leaked to Inner City Press. The question was reiterated on January 19, without any response.
On January 19, cutting off his noon briefing at 12:15 for, ironically, a press conference by the Special Adviser on Genocide (who used to work for the Government of Sudan), Nesirky did not allow Inner City Press to ask a question about government shooting in Darfur.
Later on January 19 Inner City Press submitted the Darfur question, and reiterated Sudan question, to Nesirky and his Deputy Farhan Haq in writing.
At the January 20 briefing, Nesirky did not mention the shootings, and had not sent any answer about them to Inner City Press. So Inner City Press asked the question again. Nesirky pulled out notes he had not read from to start the briefing, and said that students were shot and taken to Khartoum.
“Who shot them?” Inner City Press asked.
“That, I can't tell,” Nesirky said. Indeed.
Later on January 20, Inner City Press directly asked the head of UN Peacekeeping Alain Le Roy about Charpentier's rosy assessment of Darfur. Le Roy said there are over 40,000 new internally displaced people. Who is the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan? Watch this site.
