UN Mission in Sudan slams media lynching against spokeswoman
May 24, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — After long silence over the repetitive attacks by different Sudanese government officials and the local press aiming to destabilize its spokeswoman, the UN mission in Sudan slammed the media lynching and personal attacks against Ms. Radhia Achouri.
“The United Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) unequivocally rejects personalized attacks in recent articles and editorials in the Sudanese press against its spokesperson, Ms. Radhia Achouri.”; the UN body said in a statement released Thursday here.
Earlier this month, the minister of Justice, Mohamed Ali al-Mardi, and the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission have accused the UN spokeswoman, Radhia Achouri of reverting to threats and subjective statements, besides ignoring mistakes of the UN in transmitting wrong messages to the armed non signatories of the Abuja agreement.
The daily Alwatan reported that the statements of Achouri on which minister Al-Mardi made comments has created anger in the government and that Achouri’s fate could be expulsion like former UN representative Jan Pronk.
However, the UNMIS eluded these vehement criticisms from the Sudanese officials and focused its reaction on the media attacks against its spokeswoman.
The UNMIS condemned this “personalized and malicious nature of these attacks, indicating that it had expressed grave concern about these menaces to the Sudanese government. Further the UN body said reminded that Sudan is responsible for the safety and the security of the UNMIS staff.
“The attacks appear to be based on a misconception.” Said the statement
Adding “Ms. Achouri does not make statements in her personal capacity, but speaks on behalf of the United Nations Mission in Sudan. Her briefings to the press are based on contributions from the different components of the mission and are cleared beforehand by the leadership of the Mission.”
Alwatan newspaper have issued a subtle warning in its editorial of May 14 to Achouri that similar statements might cause her to be expelled in a manner similar to Pronk. But the message was quite clear in the editorial of the Sudan Vision in the same day “It seems that UNMIS spokesperson is intent on following the footsteps of former UNMIS head, Jan Pronk whom the government declared him a persona-no-grata,” the English language daily said.
In response, the UNMIS suggested to the journalists to contact directly the concerned official within the mission if they disagree with her statement.
Observers say even in its belated reaction to the orchestrated campaign against the spokeswoman, the UNMIS statement reflects the weakness of the mission since the expulsion of the former UN envoy to Sudan last year. “Journalists were minor portion of the attack on her.” They said.
The UNMIS personal in Khartoum is very frustrated by this media lynching against Ms. Achouri. Observers told Sudan Tribune any member of the mission feels that this hostile campaign is directed against him.
The UNMIS has been without a head since the expulsion of Jan Pronk last year. Taye-Brook Zerihoun from Ethiopia is the acting head of the mission. Pronk told Sudan Tribune in an interview last February that harassment of the UN staff by the Sudanese government has increased since his expulsion because no one “is standing up for them” like he did. He described the UNMIS as “beheaded” and criticized New York for not protecting its own people working in Sudan.
(ST)