By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 12 -- As in Sudan the government of Omar al Bashir threatened to shut down humanitarian NGOs in Southern Kordofan and Darfur for allegedly helping insurgents, the UN on Tuesday confirmed to Inner City Press that the soldiers it still has in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states do not patrol, and presumably would not defend civilians attacked in front of them and their bases.
While there were already complaints about inaction by UN peacekeepers, particularly the Egyptians in Southern Kordofan and the Zambians in Abyei, since the mission's mandate expired on July 9 it has become official: “the peacekeepers who were part of the UN Mission in Sudan cannot patrol because they do not have a mandate to do so,” as UN spokesman Martin Nesirky answered Inner City Press.
But they are still there. Does this mean that if civilians were being slaughtered right outside their base, they would do nothing?
From the UN's transcription of its July 12 noon briefing:
Inner City Press: the Northern Sudan Secretary for the Political Sector, Gudbi al Mahadi, has said that NGOs face being ejected from both Southern Kordofan and Darfur on charges of providing logistical support to insurgents. So I am wondering, is that something that the UN system, whether in its wind-down capacity or UNAMID [African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur] in its still-robust capacity, are they aware of that? Do they oppose that? And also now that the resolution has been passed by the Council, what exactly is the, sort of, the orders in which the peacekeepers in, still in Kadugli and other places in Southern Kordofan, are under? Are they allowed to go out of their base if they witness…?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, the short answer to that is they are not allowed to patrol. They do not have the mandate to do so. What the resolution says, as I think you all recall, is that it requests the Secretary-General to consult with the parties, the African Union High-level Implementation Panel and other partners and present to the Security Council options for UN support to new security arrangements in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states in line with the 28 June Framework Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. So what I am trying to say is that the Council has asked the Secretary-General to provide options what could be done further. The short answer, as I said at the beginning, is no; the peacekeepers who were part of the UN Mission in Sudan cannot patrol because they do not have a mandate to do so. Does that mean that we are concerned? Yes, it does, because clearly humanitarian workers need to be able to go about their work to help the people in Southern Kordofan. And they are not able to do so with the level of confidence that they could before.
Inner City Press: thanks for that... Who in the UN system is actually… is there any involvement by the UN in talks if they exist between Khartoum and SPLM [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] North about [Southern] Kordofan? I’ve heard there is not a process in Addis anymore, but are there processes inside Sudan proper and is Mr. [Haile] Menkerios or [Thabo] Mbeki or somebody [from the UN involved]?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, Mr. Menkerios is now going to be Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to deal with the parties on the remaining details of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That is an element of work that clearly remains to be done. And obviously Mr. Menkerios has the expertise to do that. I think that’s… I’d leave it at that at this point.
So what is the UN doing? We'll have more on this.
Meanwhile on Tuesday evening in the Security Council chamber, with no other journalists around, a delegation from South Sudan came to meet with German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and his entourage, including the able German Africa Director, just in from the independence celebration in Juba. As emerged Monday night, Angela Merkel is in Kenya (where he was Ambassador), and then on to Angola, where oil is presumably a or the major topic.
The Tuesday evening meeting was to plan the events of Wednesday, when the Council will vote on UN membership for the Republic of South Sudan, and then have a debate, presumably including these issues in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, if not Darfur. We'll be there - watch this site.
