In Darfur, UN Council Plays Mother Theresa, Dodges on Inaction of UNAMID

By Matthew Russell Lee

KHARTOUM, October 8-9, 2010 -- Why did the UN Security Council trip to Darfur feel so docile, so distracted?

Or perhaps perfunctory: the 15 Ambassadors were driven around in a convoy of some 40 four wheel drive vehicles, from being protested at the Wali of North Darfur's compound to the Abu Shouk Internally Displaced Person's camp to a hospital to the airport, where UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant took and largely dodged seven questions and then got on the plane.

Such a program implied that the UN Security Council is Mother Theresa, that its main work is humanitarian. That the Saudi Hospital in Al Fasher is unsanitary, as one Permanent Five Council member emphasized to the Press -- what exactly is the Security Council going to do about it?

Meanwhile things much more directly in the Council's jurisdiction like the host country Sudan's denial of freedom of movement to the peacekeeping mission established by the Council, UNAMID, and UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari prepares to hand over five supporters of rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to this same government, with a president indicted for war crimes and genocide, seems to have hardly been discussed or even accessed.

We say seem because the Press was excluded from nearly every stop along the Council member's humanitarian tour. A breakfast with international non governmental organizations was "for Security Council members only."

At the Wali's house, after formulaic speeches and much conferring with another delegation, Lyall Grant asked the Press to leave. The same occurred at the Abu Shouk IDP camp.

The Press wasn't allowed for a single second into the Saudi hospital, despite one delegation making various representations about conditions once they had left.

Rather, the Press was told to sit in a mini bus in front of the hospital. Here, Ibrahim Gambari approached to promise to try to ensure access to the program in Khartoum. He then jumped with armed guards into his four by four vehicle, which drove over and crushed green melons or squash painstakingly planted in front of the hospital.

During the 24 hours the Security Council was in Darfur, two UNAMID civilian staff living outside the Super Camp were kidnapped. Thursday night a UNAMID spokesperson confided coyly that there had been a “security incident” but wouldn't say anymore. He said to Inner City Press, “you'll probably be the one to get the scoop, but I won't help you.”

Later UNAMID fed partial information to a wire service, that one of the staff escaped and another was still missing -- the government of Sudan, the UN said, was helping look for the staff member, who it emerged is Hungarian. Despite Gambari's UNAMID implying that the rebels did the taking, Lyall Grant used the kidnapping as his example of the deteriorating conditions in Darfur.

What about the 47 people killed at Tarabat Market last month while the UN took three days to even go? This appears not to have been mentioned.

When at the airport Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant about Gambari's proposed hand over of five rebels to the Bashir government, and which it might mean for UN peacekeepers freedom of movement to places like Jebel Marra, Lyall Grant's main answer was that this wasn't in the Council's “terms of reference.”

Lyall Grant offered nothing but praise for UNAMID and Gambari, despite the latter's closeness to the Bashir government. And on the plane to Khartoum, even an unusable account of the meeting with IDPs from which the Press was excluded was glossed over, with a mention of “ad hominen” attacks by the IDPs but, even in this format, no mention of Gambari's name.

In Khartoum on Thursday night, things hardly got better in terms of transparency of the Council trip. The UNMIS Mission and its one year chief Haile Menkerios held an event with Council members, which the Press was not allowed to cover or attend.

When the Council, with different members and Ambassadors, visited Khartoum in 2008, Inner City Press attended and covered the similar event thrown by then UNMIS chief Ashraf Qazi. So are the UN Security Council and UNMIS getting less rather than more transparent over time?

The people the Council is meeting with on Saturday, it is not clear how and by whom they were selected. Watch this site.

Footnotes: in rare praise of Khartoum, once excluded by UNMIS and the Council, Inner City Press went with hard working Sudan-based journalists to the Papa Costa restaurant in downtown Khartoum, for grilled hamour from the Red Sea accompanied by a jazz quartet. It's not like this every day, one of the correspondent said.

He pointed to a traffic circle that until recently, and four two years, had Al Qaeda graffiti. Now the government belatedly painted it over -- one tangible effect of the Council's lightening visit.

Leaving Darfur, UN & UK Defer to Gambari on Turn Overs to Bashir, Press Excluded

By Matthew Russell Lee

AL FASHER AIRPORT, October 8 -- The UN Security Council's Darfur trip was coordinated by UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who faced off on statistics with the Wali of North Darfur, chaired meetings with internally displaced people, then took seven questions from the media.

That the chief of the African Union - UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari is negotiating to turn over five rebels supporting Abdel Wahid Nur to the government of Omar al Bashir has been known, including by the UK Mission, since September 28 when Inner City Press published Gambari's draft letter to Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti.

But when Inner City Press at the Al Fasher Airport at the Darfur leg's conclusion asked Lyall Grant about “this issue whether UNAMID and JSR Gambari should turn over to the gov't the five suspends in the kalma camp,” and Adbel Wahid Nur's threat if the turn over takes place to stop communicating with UNAMID, viewing it as complicit in genocide.-- Lyall Grant ducked the question.

“That issue was not part of our terms of reference” he answered, adding that “now obviously that issue has come up in our various conversations. But it is for the JSR Gambari to resolve that situation.”

While it may in one sense “be up to” a JSR or SRSG to turn over people to a government whose president has been indicted for genocide and war crimes, one expects the Security Council, which created the peacekeeping mission and would have to deal with or at least vote on the fall out from turning rebels over to the government some years ago.

Lyall Grant continued that Gambari “has briefed us on it and believes that he can find a way through and a satisfactory solution.”

Just as it would be strange for the UN to rely on promises of indicted war criminal Omar al Bashir not to execute the Kalma Camp Five as a basis to turn them over, so some find it strange for the UK to defer entirely to Gambari, whose performance as UN envoy to the dictatorship in Myanmar the UK so lambasted.

Lyall Grant concluded his answer, “We haven't been looking specifically at that issue on this visit.” If not now, when? With Lyall Grant, one hopes that more was done than talked about. We'll see.

Minutes later, the moderator said “one more question.” Since no one else seemed to have one, he called on Inner City Press. But Lyall Grant cut in, “Let's have someone else for the last question.” Let's -- the question was a long winded one in Arabic from a radio station pro (and seemingly funded and controlled by) the Sudanese regime.

The question was translated by a UN interpreter who earlier on Friday chided the press bus for eating the hamburger and hot dog provided by the UN in eye shot of hungry children from the Abu Shouk IDP camp.

Footnote: later on Friday, back in Khartoum, the traveling press was not invited to an UNMIS event on a leg co-sponsored by Lyall Grant and Susan Rice of the US. On Saturday, the last day of the trip, the only press offering are a photo op at 10:30 with foreign minister Ali Karti, then another, one hopes better, press conference. Watch this site.

As Darfur IDPs Speak of Hunger, UN Says No Famine, Silent on Blockade, No UNSC Oversight

By Matthew Russell Lee

ABU SHOUK IDP CAMP, DARFUR, October 8 -- Minutes after internally displaced women here told Inner City Press of being unable to feed their children due to cutbacks by the UN World Food Program, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Georg Charpentier told the Press that “there is no lack of food in Abu Shouk.”

Charpentier's evidence, as he presented it, was the presence of taxis in the IDP camp's market area. The standard he applied became clear when Inner City Press asked why it had taken him and the UN so long to speak out against Sudan's government's blockade of the Kalma IDP Camp.

Charpentier said that “there was no famine” in Kalma, and that therefore the warnings were “exaggerated.”

On question after question, Charpentier sounds suspiciously similar to the Wali of North Darfur, who earlier on Friday had harangued the UN Security Council members with statistics that various forms of crime have decreased 70 to 80%. It is one thing for a government to try to downplay its problems. But to have the UN humanitarian coordinator joining in the spin is problematic.

US Permanent Representative Susan Rice, who was on the trip, was previously informed by Inner City Press of problems with Charpentier's performance of his supposedly impartial humanitarian duties. Ambassador Rice said she would look into it while in Darfur -- but did she?

The UN Security Council members spent less than a quarter of an hour in the camp. Their intake was purely anecdotal. Inner City Press watched as one Ambassador used a UN translator to ask a Sudanese woman how long it had been since she'd been home. Oh you go ever six months, the Ambassador then said. No, the woman said, I said I still have some family members there, but I can't go due to safety.

Who really oversees the UN's missions and ostensibly humanitarian operations on the ground? This trip has made it clear at the Security Council is not overseeing even the peacekeeping missions it forms and send into the field. In the humanitarian sphere there may be even less oversight.

Kids in Abu Shouk IDP camp, malnutrition not shown due to UN, (c) MRLee

Inner City Press is widely told by people in Sudan that Charpentier has “gone native” and sides and shares documents with the Sudanese authorities. (Charpentier denies the latter, although a high placed UN official has already admitted that the government of Sudan has been shown UN documents before they are released.)

While Inner City Press was trying to report on the Council members' movements through the IDP camp, UN staff repeated told Inner City Press to “put the camera away,” that the “G.O.S.” or Government Of Sudan could come and seize the camera and even put Inner City Press in jail.

It emerged from the UN staff that this had happened not ago to a Japanese TV journalist. Why did the UN say nothing about this? Why did Georg Charpentier say nothing while the Government of Sudan blockaded the Kalma IDP camp? What will Susan Rice and the other Council members do to try to stop any of these trends? Watch this site.

N. Darfur Wali Lectures UN Council, One Eyed Statistics: Down, Down USA or ICC?

By Matthew Russell Lee

AL FASHER, October 8 -- The UN Security Council was lambasted on Friday by the Wali of North Darfur as approaching Sudan's problems with “one eye” rather than two. In a large room at the Wali's compound, Sudan's Permanent Representative to the UN translated a series of statistics comparing crime including violence against women from 2004 to 2010, each time with a decrease.

One New Yorker in the crowd saw it as similar to Rudy Giuliani. But when it was the turn of Mark Lyall Grant to speak, as the Council's leader of the Darfur leg of the trip, he countered with the 250% increase in violent death from last year to this. While this surge -- which the US has referred to as a mere “uptick” -- is undeniable, Lyall Grant did not directly respond to the Wali's numbers, 2004 to 2010.

After some initial back and forth, the Press was asked to leave, reportedly at the request of one or more UN Security Council members. Just outside the door to the Wali's meeting room, several dozen protesters -- some from Thursday's protest inside the airport -- chanted “Down, down ICC.”

Once, the man with the bullhorn shifted to “Down, down USA” but was quickly corrected by an official looking protester. A Rwandan UN Peacekeeper joked about it with Inner City Press.

Outside the Wali's walls a crowd of several hundred chanted pro Bashir slogans and asked that their banners be photographed. Soon thereafter, the Council Ambassadors pulled out in their four by fours on the way to Zam Zam IDP camp, whose population is now up to 80,000 - another increase.

Footnote: Inner City Press was in this same room in June 2008. Since then, the Wali's forture seem to have improved: a large horseshoe table, better air conditioning and better food provided. Some out in the crowd also spoke about a recent Ponzi scheme and local dissatisfaction with the Wali. As requested, we are looking with two eyes. Watch this site.

In Darfur, Gambari Criticizes Nur & Inner City Press on Video, Transcription Here

By Matthew Russell Lee

DARFUR, October 8 -- Peacekeepers were sent to Darfur after reports of a brutal campaign by the government of Omar al Bashir against opponents of his regime and civilians perceived as supporting them.

Now top peacekeeper Ibrahim Gambari, as shown by documents leaked to and published by Inner City Press, is near to turning over five supporters of rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to that same Bashir regime, in exchange for a promise by Bashir to commute any death sentence his courts impose.

Several members of the UN Security Council, which ostensibly oversees Gambari's actions along with the African Union, expressed surprise to Inner City Press once they saw the leaked documents, consisting of a draft letter and “Additional Terms” from Gambari to Bashir's foreign minister Ali Karti.

On the UN plane Thursday to El Fasher from South Sudan, US Ambassador Susan Rice told Inner City Press that she intends to inquire into Gambari's offers about the Kalma Camp Five while in Darfur. This echoed a statement of intention previously issued by another Permanent Member of the Council.

After a closed door meeting with the visiting Security Council members, Gambari and two of his military officials, in uniform, came to see the Press. Gambari called Inner City Press' publication of his draft documents “reprehensible” and told Inner City Press to “be careful... lives are at stake.” Transcription below.

Yeah, a witness to Gambari's statements later said, the lives of the Kalma Camp Five are at risk if the UN turns them over to a strongman already indicted for genocide and war crimes. “Is this what the UN should be doing?”

Gambari, Lyall Grant, Susan Rice, Churkin- oversight not seen? (c) MRLee

Gambari's statements to Inner City Press were caught on video and will soon be published online as such. For now, here is a transcription, prepared late Thursday night at a guest house in El Fasher outside of Gambari's UNAMID compound:

Inner City Press asked Ibrahim Gambari, “What's happen with the Kalma Camp Five that you are considering turning over to the government... or that documents indicate you are considering turning over?”

Gambari answered: “Here is the situation. We have these five sheikhs who have been accused of some very serious offenses. We have no means as UNAMID to try them... Down the line if ever there was a death sentence, the President has the prerogative of mercy. All has been discussed confidentially. I want to say how reprehensible it was that somebody leaked the confidential communication of the government of Sudan...endangering the lives of those in the camps. The recipient of such a leak I think should also think twice about what they do considering that they are endangering the lives.. We've lost 27 peacekeepers between UNAMID and UNMIS, I mean AMIS.”

Inner City Press asked about Abdel Wahid Nur saying that if the Five are turned over, it will make UNAMID complicit in genocide, and that his group would not cooperate with the UN any more.

Gambari responded, “you quote words Abdel Wahid was supposed to have said... I met Khalil Ibrahim yesterday, asked how about how someone said JEM wants Gambari to resign for Tarabat Market. [He said he] ever said that, never authorized this... I want to hear from Abdel Wahid. I've been to Paris twice, I went to Tripoli...What happened in New York I condemn it. Matthew I have known you a long time, you should be careful... You are a recipient of a leaked document... Journalism also is a responsibility. I regard you as a friend, I used to, I regard you as a friend, I am admitting that.”

Of Abdel Wahid Nur, Gambari said: “He wants all issues resolved almost before he comes.”

“Matthew, I'm very angry with you , what are we supposed to do, keep people indefinitely?”

Inner City Press said, “Several Security Council members, when they saw the leaked documents, said they were not aware that you or UNAMID were in such discussions, and some expressed worry. How much is this Mission overseen by the Security Council?”

Gambari said “Ask them. Ask the S-G. I am responsible to two masters. You have the AU and you have the UN. The unity of the international community is key to finding a solution.”

Inner City Press said, as Gambari backed out the door toward his vehicle, “Transparency you can always say is dangerous, but I think it's probably a good thing.”

“No,” Gambari said. “Believe me, lives are at stake.”

Or maybe jobs, a witness to Gambari's statements later said, adding that the lives of the Kalma Camp Five are at risk if the UN turns them over to a strongman already indicted for genocide and war crimes. Among other lives put at risk, without oversight, transparency or explanation. “Is this what the UN should be doing?” Watch this site.

Footnote: it's worth noting that even before Inner City Press obtained and published Gambari's draft letter to Sudan's Ali Karti, Gambari had already expressed anger at Inner City Press' publication of other leaked documents concerning his time as UN envoy to Myanmar.

That time, before the UN's September 24 high level meeting on Sudan, Gambari didn't argue about lives being at risk. He claimed the documents were “old” (2009) and not newsworthy. “Just leave me alone,” he said, having in the past declined to respond to questions sentto his UN e-mail address by Inner City Press. Now, the claim that lives are put at risk. Is it just opposition to transparency?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/gambari2kalma100810.html

Fear & Loathing in Darfur, Of UN's Curfew & Low Morale, Gambari VIP Culture

By Matthew Russell Lee

EL FASHER, October 8 -- Even as spruced up Thursday for the visit of the UN Security Council, there was a feeling of fear and boredom and low morale at the joint African Union - UN Mission in Darfur. After the Council's delegation was met by protests at the gate of the El Fasher airport, its convoy rushed into UNAMID's compound, surrounded by concertina wire and earthen barriers against suicide car or truck bombs.

At and even before the Council's first meeting, limiting the program and visits was the topic, even though Internally Displaced People in a nearby IDP camp had been quoted as waiting to be visited by the Council.

Inside the UNAMID compound, when Inner City Press sought to leave the air conditioned space into which the media were shepherded, a UNAMID minder said “You are really not supposed to be wandering around. [Wherever you go] I'll go with you.”

Along the path to the restrooms, men lounged on the sidewalk, and offered greetings to Inner City Press. Later, without the UNAMID minder, Inner City Press was approached by and spoke with a range of people inside UNAMID's so called Super Camp, which military contractor Lockheed Martin was given a sole source contract to build, unsuccessfully.

UNAMID staff described a curfew imposed on them: none of the required four wheel drive vehicles can be used after 7 pm, and no two wheel drive vehicles or walking outside the camp after 10 pm.

Even staff whose job would seem to require leaving the Super Camp told Inner City Press they rarely if ever leave. Their highlight seems to be going on vacation.

After six weeks, these staff are given five days vacation and two travel days, seven consecutive working days in total. Those interviewed said they largely go to Europe, only to return against to what one called an unhealthy house arrest.

Isn't there a gym or work out facility? There is, was the response, but it is not a good one and is poisoned by what is called UNAMID's “VIP culture.” It was noted that UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari flies about in a Lear Jet, unlike his counterpart in South Sudan.

UNAMID 4x4, curfew, low morale & Gambari's Lear Jet not shown, (c) MRLee

This virus seemed to spread to the Security Council's dinner Thursday night. While initially two tables for journalists had been set up in their room, before it began the tables were moved outside. Even though two UNAMID staff later asked the Press if offense had been taken, the VIP message resonated.

Earlier on Thursday, when the UN plane from Juba was found to have one too many people aboard, a Sudanese journalist who had been permitted for the flight and to report from Darfur was ordered by UN Security to get off the plane or be “forcibly” removed.

After his backpack was thrown to the floor, the three other Sudanese journalists left with him in solidarity. Still the Council has had nothing to say about what's viewed as disparate treatment or even, to some, discrimination.

What is being accomplished by the Super Camp bound UNAMID? Inner City Press had wanted to ask UNAMID chief Gambari about detailed reports it has received about UNAMID peacekeepers refusing to leave their bases to protect civilians, saying they must await “permission.”

Inner City Press earlier obtained and published an internal UNAMID document to this effect, show inaction after the murder of at least 47 people in the Tarabat Market:

“At about 1800hrs on 02 Sep 2010, UNAMID Police Advisors received unconfirmed information from locals in Tawilla IDP camp that unidentified armed men attacked Tabarat Market near Maral village about 28kms southwest of Tawilla, where about 30 people were killed and more than 70 others were injured.

“The information was received by the PF Force Commander Major Aimable Rukondo from relatives of victims in Tawilla IDP camp. At about 2030hrs, people from the Tawilla IDP camp gathered near the gate of Tawilla UNAMID Base requesting for assistance to evacuate their relatives who were in Tabarat market. The PF Commander together with the Acting Team Site Commander advised the relatives that prior approval from El Fasher Headquarters is needed before proceeding to the place and with that they were advised to be back to Tawilla Base tomorrow morning for possible medical evacuation movement to Tabarat market once it has been approved by the higher Headquarters.”

Gambari has yet to explain this document. But on Thursday night, Gambari approached Inner City Press, not about this but another exclusive publication of leaked documents: Gambari's drafts to Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti, showing Gambari on the verge of turning over five supporters of rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to the regime of Omar al Bashir, already indicted for genocide and war crimes. These documents have led Abdel Wahid Nur to say that if the turn over occurs, UNAMID will have become complicit in genocide.

After Gambari's outburst -- first reported here -- Inner City Press was told that there had been a “security incident” regarding which no further description would be provided to Inner City Press, since “you'll probably get the scoop.” A UNAMID staff member was kidnapped. In a guest house surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled -- virtual house arrest -- Inner City Press sat down under an overhead Pak Fan and set about transcribing Gambari's remarks. Watch this site.

In Darfur, Gambari Attacks Publication of His Kalma Turn Over Documents, Says Press Puts At Risk

By Matthew Russell Lee

DARFUR, October 7 -- Hours after the UN Security Council and accompanying media including Inner City Press arrived Thursday at the joint African Union - UN Mission in Darfur, the Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari came to visit the Press. Inner City Press asked Gambari about the turnover of five supporters of Abdel Wahid Nur documents obtained and published by Inner City Press show he is considering.

Gambari responded angrily that the leaking and then publication of the documents puts people at risk. Inner City Press responded that others believe that the turnover would put people at risk, not only the five individual's turned over, who even as to execution would be relying on a promise by Omar al Bashir, already indicted for genocide - but also for UNAMID's own peacekeepers.

As quoted by Radio Dabanga, Abdel Wahid Nur has said that if the turnover occurs, he and his movement will view UNAMID as complicit with the genocide Bashir has been indicted for.

Inner City Press asked Gambari about what Abdel Wahid Nur told Radio Dabanga. Gambari responded that he does not believe quotes he reads -- Dabanga is, of course, a radio -- and gave as his example a recent talk with Khalil Ibrahim of JEM in which, Gambari said, Ibrahim said JEM had never called for Gambari to resign. Self-serving?

Gambari said he was criticizing the Press “as a friend.” But to attack a publication for publishing a leak about the possible turnover of five people to one accused of genocide and war crimes seems strange. As Inner City Press said as Gambari left, several Security Council members had no idea Gambari was engaged in such negotiations. One Permanent Representative of a Permanent Five Council member told Inner City Press that, after checking with “the capital,” the issue would be raised on this trip. Susan Rice of the US said it would be looked into during the visit.

“I have two masters,” he said, the African Union as well as the UN and its Security Council. So does Gambari confer with neither? Or with the African Union more than the UN?

In the room in which Gambari meet with the Council Ambassadors, two hagiographic photographs are hung on the wall: the UN's Ban Ki-moon, and the AU's Jean Ping.

By having two masters, does Gambari answer only to himself?

Or as some say, to a resident of Khartoum, which Gambari reaches by Lear Jet?

Pro Bashir Protest Greets UN Council in Darfur, IDP Camp Visits in Play

By Matthew Russell Lee

DARFUR, October 7 -- Chants against the US and the International Criminal Court greeted the UN Security Council's 15 Ambassadors when they arrived in Darfur on Thursday. Inside the airport, a group of women chanted their devotion to Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who has been indicted by the ICC for war crimes and genocide.

At the airport gate, a larger crowd including children for a time blocked the Council's convoy, which ultimately broken through and rushed behind the barbed wire perimeter of the Super Camp of the joint African Union - UN Mission in Darfur, UNAMID.

Once inside, the Ambassadors were whisked in to meet with Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari and other UNAMID officials. Inner City Press went in too, for the promised photo opportunity at the beginning of the session.

But in the corner, Gambari and Security Director Reddy were in intense conversation with US Ambassador Susan Rice, accompanied by her UK and Uganda counterparts Mark Lyall Grant and Ruhakana Rugunda.

Rather than freedom of movement for UN Peacekeepers and protection of civilians, the discussion seemed to revolve around the next days program of work: either a close-by internally displaced persons camp and then a Saudi-funded hospital, or an IDP camp some 20 kilometers from Al Fasher. Inner City Press, upon request, is not publishing the name of either camp. The impact of the protest that greeted the Council at the airport is not yet known.

Footnote: inside the UNAMID Super Camp, the Press was led to a welcome Internet cafe. But in seeking to leave the air conditioned container, Inner City Press was told that “you're really not supposed to wander around... I'll go with you.” Essentially, a minder system.

Nevertheless UNAMID has its beauty: a V shape of birds in the sky, lit up periodically by lightening. After the call to prayer, people dropped to their knees in a larger, carpeted container. A UNAMID staffer said he rarely leaves the base. That's what the rebels say.

Kiir Won't Declare Independence, Susan Rice Says, Debt, Darfur & LRA Followup Unclear

By Matthew Russell Lee

UN PLANE TO DARFUR, October 7 -- Susan Rice spoke on the record to the Press on the back of the UN plane at the conclusion of her South Sudan leg of the UN Security Council's trip to Uganda and Sudan.

The US Permanent Representative to the UN recounted how Salva Kiir gave assurances that South Sudan will not make a unilateral declaration of independence. Rather, if Khartoum delays the nationwide referendum, South Sudan will hold its own referendum.

Inner City Press asked, what about the Southerns living in the North? Could they vote in this scenario? How many of them are there?

"No one knows," Susan Rice said, adding that the South had accepted the count of 500,000 Southerners in the North in the last election, but now Khartoum has boosted the figure to 2 to 3 million.

This echoed earlier on the record comments by UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant. Neither Ambassador would answer what is being done to prevent registration fraud.

Nor would Susan Rice answer what if anything the US plans to do about Sudan's nearly $40 billion in debt. She told Inner City Press that the US role on this is to support what the parties decide.

But how could the South accept the transfer of more than its fair share of the country's overall debt without an assurance that it would be forgiven?

Pressed, Susan Rice said that there are "legislative constraints" to forgiving Sudan's debt, and that even an independent South Sudan might not be "HIPC eligible." But isn't most of the debt non-IMF high interest rate loans?

Salva Kiir & Susan Rice, UDI & debt relief not shown

Finally, Inner City Press asked her about the accusation by South Sudan Minister of Internal Affairs Gier Chuang Aluang, in front of the Council and media, that the Omar al Bashir government is arming the Lord's Resistance Army and cattle rustlers. We've heard that before, she said, including in UN reports. But his allegations were specific. What will be done? Watch this site.

Footnotes: the reception Wednesday night involved not only Rice and the Council but also George Clooney, being followed around South Sudan by tele-journalist Ann Curry. Clooney joked that he wouldn't take a photo with a South Sudanese who was "too tall."

On the plan, while Susan Rice said she would leave UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant to speak about Darfur, Inner City Press asked her a question: what is the US' position on UNAMID's proposed turn over to the government of Omar al Bashir of five supporters of rebel Abdel Wahid Nur, which documents obtained and published by Inner City Press exposed as being immanent. Susan Rice said she wants to find out more about it during the Council's time in Darfur. We'll see.

As UN Expels Sudanese Journalist from Flight, 3 Follow in Solidarity, Protests Brew

By Matthew Russell Lee

SUDAN, October 7 -- On the UN plane of UN Ambassadors set to fly from Juba to Darfur on Thursday, one of the four Sudanese journalists on board was ordered to leave and give up his seat.

While he argued that he was on the flights manifest, and had obtained the permit required to report from Darfur, his backpack was thrown on the floor. A UN Security official threatened to "forcibly" remove him from the plane as Ambassadors did nothing.

As he struggled to pick his backpack off the floor, the Sudanese journalist said to his colleagues, we are being assaulted, are you going to accept it? All four ended up leaving. Mohamed Nur Al-Deen, Al-Tayeb Sideeg, Fayez Al-Zaki and Mohamed Yousif.

Ambassadors stared at the floor. One noted that the US has on the trip not only two staff members, but two additional personal security guards.

The disparate treatment of the Sudanese journalists began earlier in the day, in the base of the UN Mission in Sudan. The reporters traveling with the Security Council including Inner City Press were told to disembark the bus for lunch. The Sudanese journalists were left onboard and only rejoined the group after the UNMIS sandwiches were eaten.

The incidents seem less than diplomatic.

UN Plane in Juba, exclusion of Sudanese journalist(s) not shown, (c) MRLee

Discontent with the exclusions was widespread in the back of the plane, and in portions of the front. The traveling press, which had earlier in the trip complained of being slighted, "treated like baggage" as one reporter put it, was now chastened to see their local colleagues thrown off the plane. "We would sell each other out in a heartbeat," one of the traveling journalists said. A joint letter of complaint was discussed.

But to whom would a letter of complaint be directed? Who was really in charge of and during the journalist's exclusion? On the surface, it was the UN itself, UN Security. But it is a trip of Security Council Ambassadors, led by three Ambassadors. From whom would one request a copy of the manifest? Who is the UN, really? Sudanese and journalists in particular want to know. Watch this site.

Footnote / update: when the Ambassadors and Press arrived two hours later in Darfur, they were met first by a demonstration of women chanting pro-Bashir, anti-ICC slogans. At the gates of the airport, a much large protest had gathered, in which adults and children chanted anti-US slogans. In this context, the inartful expulsion of Sudanese journalists from the Ambassadors' flight seems particularly impolitic.

South Sudan Accuses Bashir of Arming LRA as Susan Rice Smiles, Others Queasy

By Matthew Russell Lee

REJAF, SOUTH SUDAN, October 7 -- A military band greeted Susan Rice and 13 other Security Council Ambassadors on Thursday morning at this police training camp on the banks of the Nile River.

The minister of internal affairs of the Government of South Sudan gave a speech, in which he accused the government of Omar al Bashir of supplying ammunition not only to cattle rustlers but also the Lord's Resistance Army.

Susan Rice did not react to this accusation, rather smiling broadly as South Sudan military figures praised her.

As the Security Council delegation took a tour of the facility, compete with mock hijackings of VIPs in four by four vehicle, fought off by the just trained police, Inner City Press asked another Council Ambassador if he was comfortable with the tone of the visit to Rejaf, sometimes called and spelled Rajaf.

“It's a very sensitive situation,” he said, going on to wonder what the government of Sudan in Khartoum would think of this show of readiness for independence and with what some call its Susan Rice “cult of personality” aspect. Others say it is merely Susan showing her passion.

Still, the mood was hopeful, with young South Sudanese singing and marching around in robo-cop crowd control outfits complete with thigh and shin armor. Inner City Press interviewed a number of the trainees, who said they are only paid from time to time and have no toilets, having to “use the bush.”

A speech to the Council members asked for $50 million to take the training facility to the next stage. Afterward an Ambassador joked to Inner City Press, “Did they expect us to take out our checkbooks?”

One Permanent Representative was conspicuously absent: Russia's Vitaly Churkin. It led one to wonder how such a Council Mission to Kosovo would have looked, while UNMIK was running it, before the unilateral declaration of independence. There, the UN's watchword was “status neutral.” Was that only because Serbia had Russia taking its side in the Council? Watch this site.

Footnote: the last leg of the Susan Rice portion of the trip, a visit to Wau, was canceled when the UN plane, run by Swift Air, broke down on the Juba tarmac. The entire delegation moved to the Russian base of UNMIS. Things started friendly, but then a Russian commander ordered the Press to stop using the Internet.

UN Council Hears of S. Sudan “Slavery,” Sees Call for Separation, UNMIS Off Hook

By Matthew Russell Lee

JUBA, October 6 -- The Juba airport in South Sudan was jumping as the UN Security Council arrived late Wednesday afternoon. “Separation = Peace,” as one sign put it. If the welcoming party is any guide, the mood for secession in Sudan Sudan cannot be contained.

On the way to Juba, a senior Western official emphasized that the program for the Council and press is to show South Sudan outside of Juba -- just as the meeting earlier in Wednesday with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni was not, in fact, about Somalia peacekeepers, but rather an Afro-centric view of Sudan's North - South conflict.

In the meeting, the official said, Museveni had repeatedly said that the Southern Sudanese had been treated like slaves. Rebecca Garang, it emerges, met with the Council minutes before Museveni, and spoke movingly of the death of her husband John, who stands to be the father of a nation. She asked why his death was not investigated as Lebanon's Hariri's has been.

She said that the Southern Sudanese missed the first time they tried to kill the gazelle -- this meant winning freedom, the official explained -- but now the reference will be the second change to kill the gazelle, and won't be missed.

Vans of the UN Mission in Sudan whisked the Ambassadors, staff and Press to the Government of South Sudan Conference Hall. Tall security guards with wrap around sunglasses asked, “You from New York?” Well, yes. This was the magic word to be whisk in for the photo opportunity of President of South Sudan Salva Kiir with three Ambassadors. Then the Press was told to leave, and also disinvited from an event event between the Ambassadors, the Government of South Sudan and civil society.

Comparing this building to 2008, when Inner City Press was last in it, things have been progressing in South Sudan. But have they progressed enough, in terms of institutions? Museveni told the Council that ready or not, South Sudan can not be slaves anymore.

Chosen as the place to stay was the Beijing Juba Hotel. Inside behind a counter with Chinese lanterns and a mural of the Great Wall, one African and three Chinese women distributed access codes to use the Internet in the lobby, and ask that rooms be paid in cash.

Certain years or vintage of bill “are a problem here,” it emerges. The color of money is green, as are the fields outside of Juba. And freedom, by all accounts, is coming soon.

Inner City Press asked the Western diplomat if there are concerns among the Council about Khartoum's accusation that Salva Kiir has violated the CPA by saying he would vote for independence. I didn't see the quote, the official answered. Salva Kiir is free to express himself.

But what about the North's plans to delay, stop or frustrate the referendum? Is the Council making plans? Is UNMIS up to it? Those on the trip won't know: the meeting with UNMIS and Haile Menkerios was canceled and won't be rescheduled. The plan for Thursday is in the air, literally--

Helicopters to Rejaf to see the training of police, prop planes to Waw or Wau, to visit a Catholic mission, and then on to Darfur. Watch this site.

Museveni Pressed on Killing of Civilians in Somalia, Disfavors Shelling, Cites Mao

By Matthew Russell Lee

UGANDA, October 6 -- President Yoweri Museveni took questions from the Press after meeting with the Security Council on Wednesday. Inner City Press asked about calls to investigate the killing of civilians in Mogadishu by Ugandan and Burundian troops. President Museveni said that those his forces killed “in June, July, August” must have been combatants, since they were assaulting a fortified position.

But what about killings of civilians in markets? President Museveni said he does not favor the shelling of such areas. Inner City Press posed similar questions last month to Jean Ping of the African Union Commission, who responded angrily that Al Shabab insists on using human shields and even fighting from mosques. He did not speak about disfavoring response.

Uganda's Ambassador to the UN Ruhakana Rugunda said that the Lord's Resistance Army was discussed in the meeting with the Council. Inner City Press asked if Uganda thinks the UN mission in the Congo MONUSCO is doing enough against the LRA bases in the Congo.

President Museveni said that the LRA is degraded, so degraded they had to go to “the Central African Republic and Darfur.” He praises his “revolutionary” forces, citing Mao about a people's army not taking a needle from the people without paying for it. Three times he praises Tanzania for sending 45,000 to throw out Idi Amin.

About the UN's Mapping Report on the Congo, President Museveni said he hadn't read it, but it must be fiction. There are fiction writers, he said, in international organization. US Ambassador Susan Rice sat stonefaced. What is the US view on what happened in Rwanda, and the Mapping Report? Watch this site.

Amid 100 Toyotas, UN Retread Speaks of Somalia Support, UNSC Oversight?

By Matthew Russell Lee

ENTEBBE, October 6 -- UN corruption and inefficiency echoed, at least for some, at the first stop on the UN Security Council's trip to Sudan. At the Entebbe Regional Center, the advance Press delegation was met by the former head of UN Procurement, Paul Buades, who left his position after controversies about favors done for contractors from his native France and other countries.

Buades greeted Inner City Press, going on to say that he is happier in the field, and that his also controversial deputy Dmitri Dovgopoly has taken over in New York now that he has become Director of Mission Support for the UN's shrinking mission in the Congo, MONUSCO.

Even shrunken, MONUSCO has a budget of over $1.3 billion dollars. Nevertheless when hundreds of women were being raped 20 miles from a UN Peacekeeping base in early August, the peacekeepers did nothing.

Now, Buades told the Press, a new budget for “Community Liaison Interpreters” must be prepared. He said nothing about the cell phone service and repeaters that Assistant Secretary General Atul Khare told the Council about back in September.

Inner City Press asked Buades how many international staff are are this Entebbe Regional Center, and how many national staff. The answers veered all over. Buades deferred to the Deputy Chief of the Entebbe Regional Center, Yury Cherep, who said 400 total, including 67 international and 143 national.

But who then are the rest? Pressed, Cherep added that there are 40 UN Volunteers - whose costs are nevertheless paid by the UN -- and 16 “contractors.” While this still doesn't add up to 400, Inner City Press looked around the Entebbe base and found for example a locked trailer with a sign, “AMHOLD LTD Consultants.” Who are these people?

Previously Pacific Architects & Engineers (PAE), which is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, got a no bid contract to build “Super Bases” in Darfur, while pushing the UN around about the air field services contracts in Entebbe and what used to be MONUC in the Congo.

At a UN press conference, Inner City Press asked UN good will Ambassador George Clooney -- currently in Juba, we're repeatedly told -- what he thought of Lockheed Martin's deal. “I don't like no bid contracts,” Clooney responded.

Now Clooney is in Juba -- a Permanent Five Ambassador says he is with Ann Curry, others speak of some exclusive Tweeting deal with MSNBC -- where the Council is expected later on Wednesday. First, they were taken on a tour of the base, after a briefing by Buades.

Inner City Press was told that the Ambassadors questions, and Buades' answers, were off the record. so they will not be reported here. To the Press, Buades made a pitch for help with “swamp ” land given to the UN by the Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni.

Yury Cherep to Amb Susan Rice, Rugunda, Churkin, # of staff not shown

“It will cost a lot to bring it up to level,” Buades said. One Ambassador said, don't pay to do landfill. A staffer replied that there was an environmental impact assessment going on. Another Ambassador laughed, pointing at the crane out on the swamp. They'll leave when the concrete is poured, he said. Indeed.

The Press was taken to a big room where, after meeting with the Council, President Yoweri Museveni will hold a press conference. He is sure to be asked about his offer of 20,000 troops for Somalia. But what about the human rights violations of which the Ugandan and Burundian troops already in Somalia are accused? Will that be allowed to be raised? We'll see. Watch this site.

Footnotes: in a back part of the base, Buades and Cherep showed the Council and press a cafeteria for 100 peacekeepers, with a volleyball court outside. While one sign said UNMIS (South Sudan), there was another sign, “French Classes.” They described sending Toyotas down the Congo River from Kinangani to Kinshasa, while some Ambassadors shook their heads. It felt like Congressional oversight, without the oversight.

As US Defends Record on Darfur, France & UK Took Lead, Silence on Bashir Noted

By Matthew Russell Lee

KAMPALA, October 6 -- With US Ambassador Susan Rice and the rest of the UN Security Council heading to Sudan later today, the US Mission to the UN has argued to Inner City Press that it is wrong to say the US has become less vocal about the killing of civilians in Darfur.

Many beyond Inner City Press have asserted that US policy, as symbolized by envoy Scott Gration, has prioritized the North - South conflict over that in Darfur.

But the US Mission, in an October 5 email from New York received by Inner City Press in Uganda, has pointed to quotes by Susan Rice, Gration, Samantha Power and even President Barack Obama for the proposition that it is “just wrong” to say the US has pulled back.

We will run below the quotes the US Mission compiled. This more than meets the Mission's request for “prominence” in addressing this issue. But consider:

In early August, when there were killings in the Kalma Camp in Darfur, it was France and not the US which asked for a Council meeting.

Later, when Inner City Press obtained documents showing the immanent turn over of five supporters of rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur from the Kalma Camp to the Omar al Bashir government and handed them to representatives of a number of Security Council members including the US, it was another Permanent Member which responded it was actively looking into the documents, and another member which said the context of the impending turn over troubled them. From the US, no response.

Even in President Obama's speech in the UN high level meeting on Sudan on September 24, it was not only Inner City Press which noticed that Obama did not mention Bashir, or the International Criminal Court which has indicted him for war crimes and genocide -- the Organization of the Islamic Conference later cited Obama's failure to mention the ICC as support for its position that Bashir should not have been indicted at all.

We note that the Obama Administration fought to make the UN's September 24 meeting on Sudan open to the press and public.

Susan Rice & unidentified aid arrive in Entebbe on Oct 6, response on turn over of Kalma 5 documents not shown (c) MRLee

Also noted: Obama in his speech to the General Debate (but not on MDGs) did not even mention Sudan.

The perception of the Obama Administration as surprisingly unclear on war crimes is shared by, among others, many in the Tamil diaspora, who expressed shock at Susan Rice's statement taking a wait and see approach to the self - serving self - investigation announced by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as a replacement for a UN panel of experts into accountability in Sri Lanka.

Others have noted the US' silence on Myanmar, then seeming joining of others' call for an international inquiry into war crimes, then a stepping away from that position.

While we are always willing to listen to and publicize responses to analysis, the point here is that questions about the Obama Administration's and Susan Rice's position on war crimes and Omar al Bashir, and even Darfur, extend far beyond Inner City Press. The answer may be not better public image management, but different actions. We'll see. Watch this site.

From the US Mission to the UN:

Matt:

We saw your recent blog post/story which included this erroneous line: “Most troubling is the failure not only of the UN but now also the US to speak out about the rising rate of death in Darfur.”

In the interest of accuracy, we are sending you (below) a collection of just some of the recent statements by senior US officials (including the President of the United States) about the violence in Darfur.

We look forward to your immediate and visible correction of your significant mistake.

(Not pictured here, Matt Lee missing very basic and easily reportable facts.)

Thanks, as always,

Susan Rice, Oct 5: A top US envoy expressed concern Tuesday about renewed violence in Darfur as the UN Security Council powers headed to Sudan to maintain pressure over a referendum which could lead to the country's break-up.

"With less than 100 days until the vote, our visit comes at a crucial time for Sudan," said US ambassador Susan Rice, who highlighted the new fears about events in Darfur, in western Sudan.

"We will push for peaceful, on-time referenda that reflect the will of the people of South Sudan and Abyei, and we will visit Darfur to assess the humanitarian situation and the plight of civilians in the wake of a disturbing uptick in violence," she said.

President Obama, Sept 24:“Despite some recent progress, preparations for the referenda are still behind schedule. Now, the vote is only a little more than a hundred days away. And tragically, as has already been referred to, a recent spike in violence in Darfur has cost the lives of hundreds of more people.”

Samantha Power, Sept 24: Samantha Power is a senior advisor to President Obama. She told reporters this week during a telephone briefing that Mr. Obama's main message to the Sudan meeting will be the need to rapidly implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement - or CPA - which calls for the North-South vote and another one on the same day by the people of the Abyei region.

"So the number one message is that these referenda must go off on time; that they must be peaceful; and they must reflect the will of the people of South Sudan," she said.

Power says President Obama would also speak about the recent uptick in violence in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Ambassador Rice, Sept 15: if in fact the government upholds its commitments as it says it will, then that will benefit the people of Sudan, and will benefit our bilateral relations-- provided that equal progress is also made on Darfur, where we remain very concerned about the security situation there.

Scott Gration, Sept 15: We’re also very concerned about some of the things that we’ve seen recently that are destabilizing. There have been some assassinations. There have been fighting between those who are pro-Doha and those who are against Doha. And we’re very concerned in getting to the bottom of these and mitigating those tensions.

So we are very involved in Darfur, we will continue to be involved in Darfur, and we don’t see a solution in Sudan until the Darfur issues are resolved, and we’re talking there about increased stability, we’re talking about an environment that people voluntarily can go to places that they want to settle, we’re talking about access for UNAMID, and we’re talking accountability, justice, and ability for people to have their wrongs righted in a way that they respect and the way they want.

This email is UNCLASSIFIED.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ussc1sudan100610.html