By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 20 -- Ignoring complaints from Darfur itself, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday accepted a yellow bound peace agreement from Burkina Faso foreign minister Djibril Bassole and his Qatari counterpart.
Bassole twice told Ban, even during the photo op, “congratulations on what will happen tomorrow” -- referring to the expected General Assembly approval of the Security Council's June 17 recommendation of Ban for a second five year term.
At his June 6 press conference announcing he wants a second term, Ban was asked about his “failure” on Darfur in his first five years. As it happens, there is escalating fighting, reports of Zaghawas killed, and rejection of this so-called peace agreement by the Justice & Equality Movement (JEM) and others.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim has been trapped in Libya for weeks. Inner City Press asked the UN about requests to it by JEM to help remove Ibrahim from Tripoli, as the UN did with its international staff. Apparently it was never done; Khalil Ibrahime was abandoned.
Radio Dabanga (June 8) reported that JEM
“accused the Sudanese government of planning an attempt to assassinate its leader, Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, in Libya. Jibril Adam Bilal, the spokesperson of the movement, said in a press release that the movement managed to foil the plot to kill the chairman of the movement. The Darfuri rebels claimed that they were able to determine the source of the attempt and stop it by foreknowledge of the means of the attempt. Jibril Bilal affirmed that the movement knew which governmental entitities had paid 25 billion Sudanese pounds to an organization called Bijer B to carry out the operation and there is an investigation going on to know more facts. Jibril warned the National Congress Party that it is stupid to try these attempts which have unknown consequences and would lead the country to a path the country has never taken before.”
Then again, the UN might just deny the Radio Dabanga report, as it did on June 20 when asked about reported failure to deliver food to IDP camps in El Geneina, Darfur:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask about in Darfur, there is a report again by Radio Dabanga that food has stopped being delivered to the IDP camps in El Geneina. I tried over the weekend to write to both WFP [World Food Programme] and UNMIS - I mean UNAMID [African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur] — to ask whether it is true and why this would happen. Is that something you can confirm?
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I’ll see what the World Food Programme or our colleagues at the UN Mission have on that.
Three hours later, Nesirky's office sent this:
Subject: Your question on Darfur and Sudan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 3:45 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
The World Food Programme has confirmed that the food distributions to El Geneina are on track, and any reports suggesting that such distributions have stopped are inaccurate.
Here's what WFP then sent Inner City Press:
“We are not stopping food distribution in any of the nine camps that we serve in El Geneina in West Darfur. Distribution plan is on schedule, very much within the 30-day cycle. We completed distribution in two camps (El Hujaj and Jaama) and today distribution will start in El Riyadh. In other camps (Abu Zar, Ardamata, Kirinding 1 and 2, and Dorti) distribution will start from the 22nd onwards. In Sultan camp, food voucher distribution started yesterday and so far we have not seen any trouble.”
And there's the key word: “voucher” distribution. Because the camp residents are opposing the use of vouchers and “traders” --
“A sheikh from one of the camps said that the Program used to distribute the food rations every month but did not do so this month after they were informed by the displaced people that they, the displaced people, would not receive their food rations from traders. The sheikh said that they demand an explanation from WFP regarding the delay, stating that the representatives of the WFP who used to meet with the sheikhs after intervals have stopped doing so. The sheikh stated that diseases such as malnutrition and diarrhea have spread in camps because of the lack of relief materials.”
The UN as reported above refused to speak to the actual people in the camps, just as it ignores the actual rebels in Darfur. The plan to declare peace in Darfur appears to be to ignored and isolate the rebel movements, and hold photo ops in New York. Watch this site.
