On Darfur, Gambari To Be "Vigilant," U.S. Belatedly Says, No Comment on Blackmail or Myanmar

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/darfur5nigeria120209.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 2 -- Two days after Inner City Press exclusively reported it, on Wednesday morning a Security Council member confirmed that a letter nominating Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria as the UN's and African Union's Special Representative to Darfur has gone to Council members.

Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, for the second time, about Mr. Garbari for Darfur, given that the U.S. criticized his predecessor Rodolphe Adada for being too soft on Khartoum. Ambassador Rice said Gambari should play an "active and vigilant role... to halt attacks on civilians." Video here, from Minute 11:41.

During his time as UN envoy on Myanmar, Gambari was criticized by human rights groups for being too close to the military government of Than Shwe. Gambari's response, privately and then publicly, was that if the "Western powers" didn't give him benefits to offer to Myanmar, he could accomplish little because the country has natural gas and oil which China and India want.

Darfur, of course, also has oil which China wants and is obtaining. So what benefits, what "carrots instead of sticks," will the U.S. through Ambassador Rice allow Gambari to offer?

At the UN's noon briefing, the day after Inner City Press had asked acting Spokesperson Marie Okabe about Gambari, she read a statement about his nomination.

Inner City Press asked her to respond to the statements, including by an African Ambassador who withheld his name from consideration for the post, that Nigeria "blackmailed" Ban Ki-moon by threatening to pull its troops from Darfur if a Nigerian didn't get the post.

Ms. Okabe declined to respond, saying it is now with the Security Council. Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Rice about the Nigerians threat to pull out of Darfur. Video here, from Minute 13:23.

"I can't comment on that," Ambassador Rice said as she walked away from the stakeout microphone. Why not? Some say Nigeria was miffed at the Obama administration for visiting Ghana rather than Lagos. We'll see.

Footnote: Ambassador Rice also declined to provide the U.S. position on what should be done with with the UN good office post on Myanmar that Gambari has been filling.

"I'll let the UN address that question as to what his relationship with MYanmar will continue to be, if any," she said. Inner City Press was told by an involved Ambassador that the UK -- and the U.S.? -- wanted Gambari out of that post for being too soft on Than Shwe. Is Darfur less important? Has it become just a footnote?

From the U.S. Mission's transcript, video here from Minute 7:27 -

Inner City Press: On Darfur? I wanted to ask you, it’s known that…

Ambassador: Hold on, can we continue on Afghanistan?

Later, video here from Minute 11:41 --

Inner City Press: I want to ask you on Darfur, it’s… it’s thought or known that the US had concerns about Rodolphe Adada when he was SRSG of the UN for UNAMID. Now that Mr. Gambari’s been nominated in a letter sent to the Council does the US, you know… do they… do you feel that his approach will be different than that of Adada what do think he should do as SRSG and relatedly what’s going to happen with Myanmar for the UN? Is he going to cover both?

Ambassador Rice: I’ll let the UN address that question as to what his relationship to Myanmar will continue to be, if any. We have significant appreciation and respect for Ambassador Gambari and we look forward to working with him as he takes over the role of SRSG for Darfur. We think it’s vitally important that UNAMID come up to full strength; that the impediments to its movement and access are immediately eliminated; and that the SRSG play a very active and vigilant role in ensuring that both sides adhere to their obligations to halt attacks on civilians, to adhere, we hope, to a lasting cessation of hostilities. There is great work to be done as we discussed the other day in the Council on the political front, but there’s a vital need to ensure that UNAMID, whose mandate it is to protect civilians, is fully able to accomplish that and that’s what we will look to Ambassador Gambari as SRSG to accomplish.

And then the question about Nigeria's reported blackmail to get the post for Gambari is not included in the U.S. Mission's transcript.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/darfur5nigeria120209.html

Nigerian "Blackmail" Captures UN's Darfur Post for Gambari, Spurned Candidate Tells Inner City Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/darfur1nigeria113009.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 30 -- The joint UN - African Union envoy post to Darfur has been the subject of "blackmail by the Nigerians," a well placed African Ambassador exclusively told Inner City Press on Monday morning, explaining the UN's offer of the post to Nigerian Ibrahim Gambari.

He said that "once the Nigerian threatened to pull their troops out of Darfur unless they get [Rodolphe] Adada's post," he and other candidates withdrew themselves from consideration "to avoid putting the Secretary General in an awkward position."

Previously, Rwanda threatened to pull its troops if it was not given the force commander post in UNAMID, vacated by Nigerian Martin Luther Agwai.

Now, the Ambassador said, "the Nigerians have given Ban Ki-moon a list of their nationals for consideration for the post." He added that while he understands that Ban will "give in" and name a Nigeria, it will not be one on the list provided by the country.

Asked about the possibility, reported months ago on June 19 by Inner City Press, of Ibrahim Gambari getting the post, the Ambassador nodded and said, "but it is not yet very open."

Subsequently, Inner City Press got confirmation of the post going to Gambari from a senior Ban administration adviser on the 38th floor, as well as individuals who have received confirmation from Mr. Gambari himself. He was getting shouldered out of his Development Fund for Iraq duties by Ad Melkert. He was known to be frustrated by Ban's political chief Lynn Pascoe not letting him work on any African issues. But who will take over for the UN in Myanmar? Watch this site.

One wonders what the U.S., France and UK, which criticized Rodolphe Adada's "too soft" stance to Ban Ki-moon, think of this process to replace Adada.

At a closed door lunch between the Security Council and Ban, the three Western Permanent member lambasted Adada's assessment of Darfur. Inner City Press has been told, by an attendee of the lunch, that rather than say he'd look into it -- or, as he has with Kai Eide in Afghanistan, that he fully supports "all" of his SRSGs, Ban said he agreed with the criticism and would talk to Adada. Then Adada was not renewed.

More recently, Ban's outgoing spokesperson has insisted that UN position like the contested number two post in the UN Development Program are given out on merit, not continent much less nationality. The process to replace Adada, as described by a withdrawn applicant, is at odds with this claim.

Following the Security Council's consultations about Darfur on November 30, Inner City Press asked outgoing Council president Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria what the Council made of report that Sudan's Al Bashir government wants the UN to prepare to pull its peacekeepers out. Mayr-Harting said, that did not come up. Again.

Footnote: Mayr-Harting also said, in his final stakeout as Council President, that the Council would defer until its extension of the mandate UN Mission in the Congo the damning conclusions of the Congo Panel of Experts, including that the Mission, run by Alan Doss, is assisting and enabling former CNDP units which are now Congolese Army units and are involved in mining, including of gold.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, in a rare but still overly controlled stakeout Q &A before Mayr Harting's, spoke of the DRC sanctions, alluding to Sixty Minutes' November 29 piece on the topic, as well as Somalia. Inner City Press has submitted written questions on these and another topic to the U.S. Mission, which says it will respond when possible. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/darfur1nigeria113009.html

Still Headless in Darfur, UN Has Sudan and Nigeria Mad, Airlifting to Juba

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unque1sudan102009.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 20 -- As the UN in Sudan warns of rebel and government troops massing in Darfur, and in the South airlifts an opposition figure's fighters from his stronghold to Juba, its Mission faces other troubles as well. The UN's envoy Rodolphe Adada has not yet been replaced. Interviews, Inner City Press is told, will take place the first week in November.

These sources say that the future of Nigeria's peacekeepers in Darfur is not certain. Nigerian Martin Luther Agwai is no longer the UN's Force Commander -- although he's still on the UN payroll -- and U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to visit Ghana and not Nigeria makes the latter less willing to help, including in Darfur. As the U.S. announces a new strategy of carrots, other pieces are not falling into place.

At the UN's noon briefing on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked about the troops massing in Darfur, and the UN Mission in South Sudan's airlift of the fighters of Paulino Matip to Juba. Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe said didn't have an information about either. Inner City Press asked how that could be.

Later in the briefing, a staffer came in and handed Ms. Okabe a sheet of paper. She read out a statement about the UN's concern about troops massing in Darfur. On South Sudan, nothing.

Khartoum sees the SPLA's "harassment" of Matip's fighters as an abuse, now abetted by the UN, both Peacekeeping and Political Affairs. Of the two, they prefer the former. They have particular scorn for the DPA official currently "preparing the ground" in Guinea for a board of inquiry, essentially ordered up by Bernard Kouchner of France, they say. They marvel at how the possible referring of the Goldstone report on Gaza can be kept away from even a vote on referral to the International Criminal Court, while their case got referred. The House of Double Standard, they call the UN. There's double dipping, too. But more on that anon. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unque1sudan102009.html

For UN's Darfur Post, Two Tanzanians Said to Compete, from G-20 to G-77, Sudan on Ice

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un3darfur092509.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 -- Given the UN's focus on Sudan and specifically Darfur, the position of lead mediator, vacant since the tenure of Rodolphe Adada was not extended, is a hotly contested post.

Inner City Press learned Friday that, beyond the candidacies of long time UN Africa hand Haile Menkerios and previous South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, reported exclusively by Inner City Press, Tanzania's Foreign Minister is competing, against Tanzania's UN Ambassador.

While its rare to have two candidates from the same country, the UN and "the West" are said to be looking for the candidate most accommodative of their views.

U.S. envoy to Sudan Scott Gration was asked this week about the ouster of Adada. "That's above my pay grade," he replied. He praised the replacer of UNAMID force commander Martin Luther Agwai. But Inner City Press has learned that Agwai, despite being said to leave the UN, will be paid for three additional months, splitting his time between El Fasher and Manhattan. We will have more on this.

Those returning to the UN from the whirlwind G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh found a reception, complete with lobster, shrimp and an ice sculpture with Sudan's flag in it, underway on the fourth floor. It was the Group of 77 and China reception, hosted by Deng Alor Kuol, the foreign minister of Sudan which chairs the G-77. Information but not liquor flowed. At the end, a clean up worker said the flag of the Republic of Sudan would be put in the dining room's sink. It's hot in there, he said. It melts very fast.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3darfur092509.html

In Darfur, UN Proposes Gambari and then Djinit and Menkerios, Ambassadors Say, Sudan Prefers Kumalo

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unau1darfurenvoy061909.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 19 -- The politics of Darfur and the UN's Missions has devolved into proposals and counter-proposal, a range of Ambassadors told Inner City Press on June 19. To replace current African Union - UN envoy Rodolphe Adada, the UN initially proposed current Myanmar envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

The UN's rationale was that Gambari, a Nigerian, would politically replace current UN Darfur force command and fellow Nigerian Martin Luther Agwai, to be replaced by a Rwandan.

But according to diplomats, Western powers led by the UK have opposed Gambari, arguing that as a Muslim he would favor Sudan as they perceive Adada did. The UN then has proposed Said Djinnit. But Sudan is vehemently opposed to Djinnit. They say the next proposal is Haile Menkerios, regarding whom Sudan is also non-plussed. They prefer and would accept Dumisani Kumalo, former South African Ambassador to the UN.

A range of Ambassadors said Kumalo would be an ideal choice. One, on the Council, urged Inner City Press not to float the idea, saying that would doom it. But as Abe Lincoln said, an idea whose time has come cannot be denied. Watch this site.

Footnote: the departure of Martin Luther Agwai as UNAMID force commander in Darfur would take place as questions have been raised about the UN's employment of his wife Ruth Agwai in the UN Medical Service, and her moonlighting for an NGO for the wives of Nigerian generals. Rwanda lost the deputy post when Karake Karenzi fell under accusation of war crimes by a Spanish court. Another Rwandan, though, could not only return to the The Sudan, but talk over UNAMID lock, stock and barrel.

Footnote: the UN's proffer of Gambari as envoy to Darfur implies to some that his Myanmar envoy post is not a serious endeavor. He is a genial and non untransparent fellow, so we'd anticipate having more on this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unau1darfurenvoy061909.html

In Darfur, No-Bid Contract Problem Ripens, UN Ambassadors Jockey for Position, Children Wave

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1lockheed060508.html

DARFUR, June 5 -- As the members of the Security Council flew Thursday to Darfur, a long-simmering scandal of the UN's $250 million no-bid contract with Lockheed Martin's PA&E subsidiary came to the fore. The head of the UN Mission in Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, told Inner City Press that while Sudan has stayed firm that Lockheed cannot get any more extensions of its no-bid contract, the issue was discussed between Sudan and U.S. Envoy Richard Williamson before he stormed out of Khartoum earlier this week, saying he was "sad and disappointed." Sources indicate this concerned the Lockheed Martin contract in Darfur and not only the growing tension in Abyea in the south. In the airport terminal before the flight to Darfur, Sudan's Ambassador to the UN Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem Mohamed said while his country had granted the UN's plea for a three month extension for Lockheed Martin through July, that will be "final... no more visas will be given."

On the airport tarmac in El Fasher, as Inner City Press photographed the ritual handshakes between UN Ambassadors and local dignitaries dressed in bright white robes, a Sudanese military handler grabbed at the camera. He pointed behind the photo-op at two helicopter gunships marked with the Sudanese flag. "You do not make photograph of that," he said, indicating that he wanted to see the camera's monitor. An apology was given, and the slow drive over sand roads to the UNAMID base began, led by a mixture of Sudanese military and UN-African Union peacekeeping troops, some bearing the acronym AMIS.

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, when told that the delegate would only visit a single internally-displaced persons camp and that only for an hour asked, "What are we, tourists?" By the time the Ambassadors reached the UNAMID camp -- which does have a large PA&E sign outside -- the program had been modified, to confine the UNAMID briefings to a minimum and allow more time in the field, with the Wali of North Darfur put to the end of the Council's program, "when we will know what we've seen," Amb. Kumalo said.

SRSG Adada, asked if he thinks that Sudanese government wants peace in Darfur, said "we have to assume so, no? It is not simple for any country to accept foreigners with arms in their country. If they do they must want peace." Inner City Press asked about the issue of the child soldiers that Sudan says it captured during the Justice and Equality Movement assault on Omduran. Adada said the child soldiers exist, there are 89 of them, and that UNICEF has visited them. On Wednesday, UK Ambassador John Sawers had said the UN has no proof about the child soldiers. Perhaps Adada will share these facts with him on Thursday. The question remains of what the UN will do about the issue.

As the plane descended toward El Fasher, Amb. Sawers took some questions from the press. Inner City Press asked him about the Lockheed Martin contract, without a real response, and told him about the Aegis Trust film, put online this week, of Darfur witnesses against Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb. Amb. Sawers agreed, pretty damning. A French reporter asked him if the UK will "follow the French" and threaten sanctions on those in the Sudanese government who do not cooperate with the International Criminal Court.

"Follow the French?" Amb. Sawers asked, clearly peeved. "I thought they were following us." The scuttlebutt is that since French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert is said to be angling to take over from Jean-Marie Guehenno as head of UN Peacekeeping, he is positioning himself even in closed-door consultations as the man with an extra idea, an extra thing to say. On the plane, Amb. Sawers added that Ripert had only been laying out a European Union position, and that the UK has member a member of the EU for 35 years, it is not "following" France.

As these Permanent Five bickered, children in front of mud houses waved at the passing convoy of soldiers all armed to the teeth. Welcome to Darfur. To be continued.

Full disclosure: this column was written in a windowless trailer in the UNAMID camp... courtesy of Lockheed Martin and the $250 million no-bid contract it was given.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1lockheed060508.html