UN’s Ban Distances Himself from Sudan’s Bashir, After Off the Record Lunch with Journalists.

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 — With Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir threatened with an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, it has been reported that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been advised by his lawyers to “distance himself politically” from Al Bashir. The London-based newspaper Al Hayat, with a long-time correspondent at UN Headquarters, sourced this to “Ban aides.”

  At the August 1 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban’s spokesperson Michele Montas if the report is true. “I don’t have a response,” Ms. Montas said. But was Ban advised to distance himself from Al Bashir? “I’m sure that issue was discussed with the Secretary-General,” Montas said, adding that is Ban’s decision what to do with such advice. Video here, from Minute 23:16.

   Further inquiry by Inner City Press leads to the inference that the sourcing of the story was Ban Ki-moon himself. It is an open secret that Ban has been holding a series of off-the-record lunches with select reporters, including on July 30 the Al Hayat correspondent. Whether a shifting of the sourcing from Ban to his aides — or perhaps in fairness a subsequent confirmation by aides — complies with Ban’s understanding remains to be seen.

  The question arises, as the trigger for this piece, why would Ban be distancing himself from the advice or decision that he be distant from Bashir? What is gained by telling select journalists, on the condition that they not report it, that he is taking seriously the ICC Prosecutor’s charges of war crimes including rape, and of genocide, by Al Bashir? Perhaps it was understood that they would report it?

Messrs. Ban and Bashir, distance for distancing not shown

  Some say that the decision to step back from Al Bashir is as much personal as legal. Just before ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant against Al Bashir, Ban telephoned Bashir. Afterwards, Sudanese state media characterized the call as one in which Ban was critical of the prosecutor. Ban’s office ultimately responded to the characterization, and criticized statements by Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN. When Inner City Press asked, on the record, which statement were being criticized, there was no answer. But was there an off the record answer?

  The series of lunches continued on August 1, when Ms. Montas was seen escorting a half dozen journalists to the elevator. Would the lunches become on the record? Would they cease?—————

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
1 August, 2008
=========================================================================䅁

SECRETARY-GENERAL SOUNDS ALARM ON FRAGILITY OF SUDAN’S NORTH-SOUTH PEACE ACCORD

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending Sudan’s long-running
north-south civil war has faced some of its most “volatile and challenging”
months since it was signed in 2005, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in
a report made public today.

Recent incidents – including the May attack by the rebel Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) on Omdurman, near the capital Khartoum, and
fighting between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army (SPLA) in Abyei – serve as “stark reminders of the
fragility of peace in the Sudan,” Mr. Ban says in his latest report on the
accord.

Additionally, he notes that such instability highlights how the people of
Sudan would suffer if the CPA – which he characterizes as “the bedrock for
sustainable peace in the Sudan” – were to fail.

Steps taken to consolidate the peace agreement have been thwarted by the
crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where as many as 300,000
people are estimated to have been killed as a result of direct combat,
disease or malnutrition since 2003. Another 2.7 million people have been
displaced because of fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied
militiamen known as the Janjaweed.

“Ultimately, peace in the Sudan is indivisible,” the report states, given
that Darfur is part of the north and the CPA is the basis of the peace
process between north and south.

One of the biggest obstacles to implementing the accord, the
Secretary-General says, has been the disputed town of Abyei, which lies in
an oil-rich area close to the boundary between north and south Sudan.

“The root cause of the problem has been the failure of the two parties to
agree on an approach to implement the Abyei Protocol,” he notes, referring
to the agreement to end the deadly fighting in the town.

In June, the National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) agreed on a road map to resolve the Abyei dispute,
including through arbitration.

Mr. Ban says that implementing this road map in good faith would spur
progress in other areas, and urges both sides to complete their
redeployment out of the area as soon as possible.

But the Abyei issue should not overshadow the other areas where
improvements towards achieving the CPA need to be made, he warns.

The Secretary-General congratulates the parties for having implemented a
key benchmark of the peace accord, conducting a national census, but calls
for the prompt demarcation of the 1 January 1956 border.

“The delay in this process has caused the two sides to deploy forces along
border areas to attain better bargaining positions, creating a de factor
border line as a consequence.”

* * *

DARFUR: TOP UN RELIEF OFFICIAL ‘DEEPLY TROUBLED’ BY ATTACKS ON AID WORKERS.

The top United Nations relief official today called for full respect for
humanitarian principles in the face of continuing attacks on aid workers in
Darfur, a troubled region in western Sudan.

“I am deeply troubled about the continuing threats and attacks against
humanitarian agencies working in Darfur,” John Holmes,
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement.

“Following two attacks against their teams and premises in just one week,
Médecins Sans Frontières has announced it has no choice but to evacuate its
team from two locations in North Darfur. The departure of MSF team leaves
some 65,000 people without essential medical assistance,” he said.

Mr. Holmes, who also serves as the Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that
the armed opposition groups in Darfur had a clear obligation to guarantee
the personal and physical safety of relief workers and access to vulnerable
populations. He added that the Government also had a responsibility to
ensure security throughout its territory.

Calling for aid organizations to be allowed to work in peace, he said that
so far this year, 180 humanitarian vehicles had been hijacked, 145 aid
workers kidnapped and nine killed.

“Impunity for such attacks must end. Hundreds of thousands of people rely
on the assistance these aid organizations deliver and we cannot afford to
have them absent from Darfur,” he stressed.

The region remains beset by violence and instability five years after
rebels began fighting Government forces and allied militiamen known as the
Janjaweed. More than 300,000 are estimated to have died, either through
direct combat, malnutrition or disease, and another 2.7 million others have
been displaced from their homes since 2003..

Yesterday, the Security Council adopted a resolution extending by 12 months
the mandate of the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping
mission, known as UNAMID.,