On S. Sudan's Oil Cut Off Charges, Sudan Shows ICP Denial, UN on Darfur
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 24, 2013, updated -- Amid charges by South Sudan that
Khartoum is responsible for a cut off in the flow of oil for export and
sale, Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman arrived at
the UN Security Council Thursday morning, some 20 minutes after US
Ambassador Susan Rice.
Update: leaving the meeting, Ambassador Rice told Inner City Press it is the
US' understanding the oil has started to flow again. She emphasized:
started.
Inner City Press asked him about the oil flow dispute. Daffa-Alla Elhag
Ali Osman opened a file folder and showed Inner City Press a series of
formal documents.
First was a letter from Sudan's Minister of Petroleum to his counterpart
in Juba, saying that the claims of Sudanese governmental involvement in the
cut off pumping and flow were false.
Next was what Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said was the signed agreement
about responding to the "technical issues" which led to the cut off; he said
that a consortium of oil companies, not the government, was responsible.
Update: after the meeting, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman told Inner City Press
that the technical issue was one of water: too much water in the oil, which
could corrode the pipes.
The Council's topic on Thursday morning was Sudan and South Sudan, as well
as Abyei. On Wednesday, the UN sent Inner City Press a belated answer from
Herve Ladsous' Department of Peacekeeping Operations to question asked by
Inner City Press the previous week:
Subject: Regarding your question on Sudan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, May 22, 2013 at 5:50 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
In response to your recent question on reports of the Chadian air force
bombing positions inside Darfur and on whether Chadian troops have crossed
into Sudan:
On 18 May, a patrol from the joint African Union-United Nations mission
conducted an assessment mission to Bamina, North Darfur, where an attack on
Justice and Equality Movement-Sudan members took place. No military or armed
elements were observed in the area.
So was JEM lying? Or was the UN late? Watch this site:
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Sudan Army Involvement, and Some UN Negligence, Shown in New Report
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 21, 2013 -- New light is cast on war crimes in Sudan
2010 to 2012 by a study released today, Anatomy of a Conflict.
<
http://hhi.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Sudan%20Anatomy%20o
f%20a%20Conflict_Signal.pdf>
In 160 pages, with over 700 footnotes, the Harvard Humanitarian
Initiative's (HHI's) Signal Program for Human Security and Technology
<
http://hhi.harvard.edu/programs-and-research/crisis-mapping-and-early-warni
ng/signal-program> details the movements of Sudan army units and
commanders, the destruction of buildings, the looting of Abyei.
Inner City Press covered Sudan then and now; the report (at note 64) cites
Inner City Press questions and reporting about the UN providing free
helicopter flights to Abyei for Ahmad Haroun
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1harun011111.html> , indicted by the
International Criminal Court of war crimes in Darfur.
Haroun is now advising those who attacked and killed the Dinka Ngok
paramount chief in Abyei; the UN then as now is refusing to answer questions
about its actions and even mandate during that fight.
The report notes that in October 2011 Inner City Press asked Herve
Ladsous, who had just arrived as the fourth Frenchman in a row to lead UN
Peacekeepering, about flight of janjaweed militia from Darfur to Blue Nile
states (Note 525).
Ladsous, who at that time was willing to answer Inner City Press'
questions until his answer got him into trouble, said that
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/ladsous1mandate102511.html> "We have no
mandate to follow who is flying from where."
No mandate? Three peacekeeping missions, a billion dollars each, and no
mandate? No performance? No accountability?
Now since May 2012, Ladsous refuses to answer
<
http://youtu.be/rm1V-cY9u40> Inner City Press questions, including about
the mandate of UNISFA in the recently killing of the Dinka Ngok paramount
chief.
South Sudan Permanent Representative Francis Deng, the murdered chief's
brother, told Inner City Press that UN Peacekeeping is not implementing the
protection of civilians mandate given to it by the Security Council
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/abyei4ladsous050913.html> . But still, no
response from Ladsous.
HHI's director Michael VanRooyen in releasing the embargoed study said it
"demonstrat[es] how humanitarian actors can see other, future disasters in
new ways." UN Peacekeeping, to the degree it is an actor, should not only
see but act in new ways in the future.
The Signal Program report is useful, and we anticipate referring to it
more in the future. But it does not cast a critical enough eye on UN
Peacekeeping and its leadership: these are the common denominators in the
failure to protect civilians in Sudan, now in South Sudan, and in Eastern
Congo <
http://www.innercitypress.com/minova1ladohchr050913.html> . That is a
study that is needed. Watch this site.
Received on Fri May 24 2013 - 18:43:10 EDT
