‘Keep Silent’ on Darfur, Sudan tells US
November 30, 2009 (WASHINGTON) - The US administration should stay away from the crisis in the Darfur region if it is to be resolved, the Sudanese UN ambassador said today.
“It is better if the US want to assist the peace process is to keep silent because they don’t have the information and the UN itself confirmed in no uncertain terms through the visit of Mrs. Malcorra [UN Under Secretary-General for Field Support, Susana Malcorra] last week in Sudan through the tripartite arrangement and mechanism that access is provided, that cooperation of Sudan with UNAMID is on course,” the Sudanese envoy Abdel-Mahmood Abdel-Haleem told reporters today at the UN headquarters.
His statements came few minutes after his US counterpart Susan Rice criticized at the stakeout what she described as impediments made by Khartoum to UNAMID that was mentioned in the periodic report by the UN Secretary General.
“The United States is particularly concerned about the reports that we heard referenced in the Secretary-General’s report of some 42 instances in which UNAMID personnel and patrols have been denied freedom of movement and access” Rice said.
“These quite directly and seriously contravene the terms in the status of forces agreement that the government of Sudan has committed to. It impedes UNAMID’s ability to protect civilians and do its vital work and it is utterly unacceptable, as are the threats by the government of Sudan against UNAMID and its personnel, threats that are amply documented in the Secretary-General’s report. But we expect that the UN will continue the important and vital efforts of UNAMID occurring in the most difficult of circumstances and we expect that the UN will report fully, accurately and on a timely basis, not only about incidents that occur, but who is responsible for incidents when they occur” she added.
The UN ambassador also took a hit at Abdel-Haleem accusing him of “bullying”.
“The sort of efforts that we saw today by the Permanent Representative of Sudan in the Chamber to try to bully and intimidate the United Nations into not reporting fully and accurately, will not be tolerated. And we will insist on and continue to expect timely and full reporting on these incidents and clear accounting for who is responsible so that we and other members of the Security Council can employ this vital information in the implementation of our national and our collective policies” she said.
The Sudanese official objected to the “bleak” pictures presented in the report and claimed that his views were shared by half of the UN Security Council (UNSC) members.
The Deputy UN peacekeeping chief Edmond Mulet who briefed the UNSC today said that Darfur rebel forces also have made it difficult for UNAMID to carry out its mission.
“Similar commitments to UNAMID’s freedom of movement are required from the armed [rebel] movements with respect to their areas of control if UNAMID is to succeed in its mission of assisting the parties in re-establishing comprehensive peace and stability," Mulet said.
The UN official noted that the opening of a new round of UN-backed talks on Darfur this month in the Arab Gulf state of Qatar coincided with an escalation of armed clashes between the rebels.
He gave examples in southern Darfur, where Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) from the Minni Minnawi faction (SLA/MM) attacked two villages, killing 11 people, and a few days later on 19 November 29 Sudanese soldiers were ambushed and killed, with both SLA/Abdul Shafie and SLA/Abdul Wahid fighters claiming responsibility.
“These attacks are unacceptable and illustrate the extent to which the fragmentation of the Darfurian rebel movements continues to be a reality ¬– with obvious implications for the mediation and peace process,” Mr. Mulet said in the briefing on UNAMID.
The Assistant-Secretary-General told the Council that a number of groups in Darfur, including the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and SLA/AW continue to express concern over the holding of national elections, slated for April 2010, before a peace agreement is reached.
In this connection, Mr. Mulet said that the “start of elections registration on 1 November led to heightened tensions in some areas of Darfur,” which he characterized as an unacceptable threat to the electoral process in Sudan.
This month Hussein Abu Sharati the spokesperson of Darfur IDP’s and refugees told Sudan Tribune that seven IDP’s were killed in West Darfur in a clash between the residents and government troops which attempted to force them to take part in voter registration process.
- From Reuters:
Millions could miss Sudan elections - observers
* Lack of publicity hits voter registration across Sudan
* Fears of intimidation at Darfur registration stations
* Peaceful registration process praised
KHARTOUM, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Millions of voters could be left out of Sudan's first elections in 24 years because of a failure of authorities to persuade more people to register for the poll, international observers said on Tuesday.
The elections, scheduled for April next year, have already been marred by accusations of fraud and opposition parties have threatened to boycott them if democratic reforms are not passed before they take place.
International observers from The Carter Center said they were concerned poor publicity over the process had already hit the number of people registering to vote, warning some states might sign up fewer than half of eligible voters.
"Without civic education millions may effectively be disenfranchised by a combination of ignorance of the electoral process, mistrust of central authorities, and poor publicity of registration activities," a Carter Center statement said.
"Without specific attention to reaching those most distant from the process, the registration exercise will be undermined."
The ballot was set up under a 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war in the oil-producing nation. But leaders from both sides remain at loggerheads over preparations.
The Carter Center urged Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) to increase publicity and funding for teams signing up voters across Africa's largest country, saying current figures showed most states might miss registration targets.
It said there were concerns over the turnout for registration in western Darfur territory as well as the east, south and the central Kordofan regions.
Registration was due to end after a 30-day period on Nov. 30 but was extended for one week following concerns about low turnout and public awareness.
The presence of government intelligence agents at registration centres in Darfur might intimidate voters there, it said.
It also said agents from some political parties were gathering outside centres to take down voters' personal details and persuade them to hand over their registration receipts.
The Carter Center also said it was concerned that military and security personnel had been allowed to register where they work, rather than where they live, which might allow for double registration.
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSHEA134129._CH_.2400
- From Reuters:
Report urges sanctions against Sudan ruling party
* Sudan's UN envoy says Darfur activists are "war mongers"* U.S. urged to push China to pressure Khartoum
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The United States and other world powers should impose sanctions on key members of the Sudanese government for refusing to end violence in Darfur and south Sudan, a report by an anti-genocide group said on Monday.
Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem reacted angrily to the report, calling the Enough Project, a Washington-based anti-genocide group, "war mongers."
The Enough Project's report said there was a risk of a new civil war and warned that nationwide elections next year and a 2011 referendum on whether the oil-rich and semi-autonomous south should secede from the Khartoum-led north would not be free and fair.
The report placed the bulk of the blame on the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who was indicted in March by the International Criminal Court for suspected war crimes in Sudan's remote western region of Darfur. The report called for sanctions.
"Without a firm response from the international community, led by the United States, full-scale nationwide war is inevitable," said the report, written by Enough Project co-founder and former U.S. State Department and National Security Council official John Prendergast.
"This should involve a special outreach effort to China because of the vulnerability of its oil investments should war resume in the South," the report said. "The United States must, then, organize and lead a multilateral diplomatic surge in Sudan aimed at negotiating and consolidating national peace."
It recommended "multilateral asset freezes aimed at key members of the NCP who have enriched themselves as a result of the oil boom of the last decade in Sudan." The report also supported travel bans and denying Khartoum access to the debt relief it has been lobbying for.
Sudan's U.N. envoy Abdalhaleem rejected the report.
"Those war mongers and war traders are in a race with time to stop the peace train which is already moving to its destination," he told Reuters. "Their report exposes their bankruptcy and the fact that realities on the ground .... defeated their sick mentality."
DISAPPOINTMENT
The head of Save Darfur, a separate coalition of more than 180 religious, political, and human rights organizations, backed the main conclusions of the Enough Project report.
"Coordinated multilateral action is crucial to promoting peace in Sudan, and that action has to deal with the reality that the core of the problem is the ruling National Congress Party's seeking to maintain its domination of power and wealth," Save Darfur president Jerry Fowler told Reuters.
"It is difficult for me to see how a strategy that doesn't include pressure could succeed," he said.
Behind the complaints of Darfur activists is disappointment with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which took nearly 10 months to formulate and announce a new Sudan policy that they worry is not being implemented aggressively enough.
That strategy calls for renewed U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan, but also offers Khartoum new incentives to end violence in Darfur and the South ahead of polls next year.
The former head of the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur said earlier this year that the six-year conflict in Darfur was essentially over.
But that assessment was contradicted by a recent report of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels continued, civilians remained at risk, and peacekeepers were routinely harassed by government forces.
U.N. diplomats and analysts say China's opposition to U.N. sanctions on Khartoum remains steadfast. Beijing holds a veto on the U.N. Security Council, which means it has the power to block any resolution imposing U.N. sanctions on Khartoum.
They also warn that a 2005 peace deal between the North and South that ended a two-decade civil war is unraveling.
The United Nations says more than 2 million people were driven from their homes and some 300,000 people died in the Darfur crisis, although levels of conflict have fallen since the mass killings of 2003 and 2004. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN30423373._CH_.2400
