At UN, Doha Process on Darfur Ends in Whimper, No Rebels, No Rice

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 22 -- The issue of Darfur, once burning hot, degenerated Wednesday into a closed door UN Security Council meeting with no output. Even the scheduled press availability by Qatar's foreign minister, in New York to present the so-called Darfur Peace Agreement, got canceled.

“Where is George Clooney?” a representative of Qatari state media asked Inner City Press. More to the point, where was US Ambassador Susan Rice?

Qatar has hosted the Doha process, urging rebels to come in order to show the emirate's diplomatic prowess. But the final product has not been signed by the Justice and Equality Movement, whose leader Khalil Ibrahim the UN has refused to evacuate like its own staff from Tripoli, nor the factions led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur and Minni Minnawi.

From the “Astroturf” rebel movement led by former UN staff member Al-Tijani Al-Sissi, even Ali Karbino has broken away and joined the still-fighting rebels.

So what was or would be solved by the Darfur Peace Agreement?

The Security Council met for hours on Wednesday with former joint UN-AU mediator Djibril Bassole, now Burkina Faso's foreign minister, and his Qatari counterpart.

Afterward top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy told Inner City Press, no one has signed the agreement yet. The Council is going to issue a press statement to put pressure for them to sign.

No press statement was issued. The focus seemed to have shifted to South Sudan -- some surmised that Darfur had just been used as a bargaining chip, to indict Omar al Bashir as leverage to let South Sudan go. And after July 9? Watch this site.

On Sudan, UN Won't Confirm Darfur Attacks, US Still Nothing on 12 Murders in Unity

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- As the Darfur Peace Agreement unravels and the pace of death escalates in South Sudan the UN, and surprising to some the US are slow and reticent to investigate and comment.

On December 6, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about Omar al Bashir's targeting of his one ally in Darfur, Minni Minawi:

Inner City Press: in Sudan over the weekend, the President [Omar al-]Bashir Government has raided the offices of the transitional Darfur regional authority and has said Minni Minawi’s faction is now a target, a military target for the Government, if previously they were an ally of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and that they’re going to the South and will now be fighting. What is the comment of the UN on the total unravelment of the Darfur Peace Agreement?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I have seen the reports. I don’t have any specific comment at the moment. But I know that my colleagues are checking with the Mission on that. But we’ve certainly seen the reports.

Inner City Press: Okay. And they’re going to try to verify this raid on the transitional Darfur regional authority?

Spokesperson: I’ve heard what you’ve said, and certainly we’ll try to check on that.

Hours later, there was no confirmation. On December 3, the UN belatedly confirmed to Inner City Press the death of 10 SPLM soldiers and two civilians in South Sudan:

Inner City Press: there is a report that the SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army] is saying that 12 of their soldiers have been killed in an ambush by government-supported militias in Unity state. So, it seems like it’s a pretty high number in a big clash. I wonder if it’s something the UN has heard of and can confirm or deny or is going to go verify it.

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, what I have been told is that we are aware that an SPLA truck with approximately 35 soldiers and their families was reportedly ambushed by an unknown group around 8 o’clock. This was on 1 December between Tamoa and Tubarit in Unity State, as you said, while traveling from Mayom to Bentiu — excuse my pronunciation of these places — a joint monitoring team that comprised SAF [Sudan Alliance Forces] and SPLA and led by the UN Mission in Sudan that went to Bentiu hospital where most of the casualties were brought by an SPLA truck. And the first report by that monitoring team confirms that 11 people were killed on the spot. And then one died in the hospital I just referred to. Ten people were wounded. However, the identity of the attackers is still not known. The team, I mean, the monitoring team, will be conducting patrols to the incident site and will meet with SPLA commanders and local authorities to try to further investigate this. That’s what I have for you.

Inner City Press: But does, I mean, I guess without knowing, the SPLA has said that they believe it’s a government-backed militia, and I just wonder, does the UNMIS [United Nations Mission in the Sudan] see any connection between this and the upcoming referendum? Is this viewed [inaudible]?

Spokesperson: As I’ve said, they’re investigating it.

After this at least partial confirmation, Inner City Press on December 3 e-mailed the US Mission to the UN, this month's Security Council presidency, to ask both for US comment on the killings, and if the Council would take them up. As of the close of the Council's business on December 6 there was no answer. Watch this site.

UN Says Al-Bashir Is $500 Million Behind in Darfur Payments, While Abuse of Election Is Cut from Kenya Statement

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1drdf020608.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 6 -- The UN's new Mission in Darfur, UNAMID, has asserted that the Government of Sudan has violated its commitments in the Darfur Peace Agreement, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. On February 4 at UN headquarters in New York, Inner City Press asked for UN confirmation or denial of what sources said about the "fund that was set up under the May 2006 agreement between some parties, Minni Minawi and others and the Government of Khartoum -- that no money has been paid."

Two days later, a response was provided from UNAMID, that the Darfur Peace Agreement "Implementation Team has confirmed that the DPA does indeed provide for the Government of Sudan to transfer from the National Revenue Fund into the Darfur Reconstruction and Development Fund an amount equivalent to $300 million for the year 2006, not less than $200 million in 2007 and not less than $200 million in 2008. The PDAIT has also confirmed that as of 05 February 2008, and apart from providing funds to cover the operational expenses of the DRDF, the GoS has not paid any money into the DRDF."

That is, the UN is saying that the al-Bashir government is more than $500 million behind in its payments. Why is the UN not saying this louder?

Meanwhile in the Security Council on Wednesday, a presidential statement on Kenya was adopted, but a key phrase stating that the Council regrets the abuses in the Presidential election was cut out from the statement. Diplomats from a Permanent Five member of the Council pointed the finger at fellow P-5er Russia for having opposed the statement on elections, on the theory that its own elections are disputed. Another Council representative said it's a "cultural thing," with the West wanting to talk about democracy, and others on the Council less willing. Inner City Press asked if there's been any movement on the British statement that it is agitating that the Council hear from the other side in Kenya, that is, from Raila Odinga's ODM. No movement, Inner City Press was told. No movement? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1drdf020608.html