By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, May 17, updated -- After Ahmed Haroun, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, declared victory in the recent election in South Kordofan, the UN Mission in Sudan put out a statement “welcoming” the election.
Now in the Security Council, sources tell Inner City Press, there is controversy over what to do if Haroun is at the airport when the Council arrives on its trip later this month.
At least one Council member is pointing at UNMIS' statement as a basis for meeting with Haroun. Others, including an African member, say it would be very “difficult.”
There was a lunch with the Permanent Five members of the Council, South Africa and Nigeria. Gabon was supposed to come but didn't, sources say. US Ambassador Susan Rice invited US envoy Princeton Lyman. While one of the non-Western P-5 say that his country and the US are “on the same page about North - South” issues, the Haroun issue remains a problem.
UNMIS and the UN Secretariat have added to this problem by, at least twice, flying Haroun to Abyei.
In New York on May 16, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about the allegations by the SPLM in South Sudan that Haroun rigged the election. Nesirky pointed again at the statement, emphasizing that the UN “urges all parties to remain calm, and encourages those with complaints regarding the electoral process to address them through legal means or dialogue.”
On May 17 Inner City Press asked Nesirky, in the context of “legal means,” if the UN had any comment about Khartoum's National Congress Party government retaining two journalists for their coverage of the elections in South Kordofan.
Nesirky merely said the UN is aware of the reports, and that the Mission, UNMIS, is checking into it.
But UNMIS has repeated said it was checking into killings, mostly of Dinka, in Abyei and environs, most times without following up. In fact, UNMIS has at least twice offered free flights to Ahmed Haroun, despite his history of organizing attacks.
Inner City Press also asked Nesirky about a report in Sudanese state media that UNMIS is already moving out of North Sudan, shifting equipment from Kadugli, Port Sudan, El-Obeid and Khartoum down to Juba in the South.
Nesirky responded that any extension of UNMIS' mission is up to the Security Council. But shouldn't the Secretariat be able to confirm or deny movements by the peacekeeping missions it administers?
