UNAMID chief rapped behind UNSC closed doors on Darfur report
April 27, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The head of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Rodolphe Adada came under fire from some members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) during a closed session in New York today, UN officials told Sudan Tribune.
“Darfur today is a conflict of all against all. The armed movements fight amongst each another, or violently purge their own members” Adada said.
The UNAMID chief also said that the situation in Darfur has evolved from its heights during the years 2003-2004, when tens of thousands of people had been killed, to a low-intensity conflict.
He provided figures of 2,000 people who died from violence in the region during the 15 months since January 2008. The UN figures say that 300,000 people were been killed since the conflict erupted in 2003.
Adada also suggested that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last month has complicated prospects for a political process.
“The ICC issue overwhelmed the Sudanese political process. It had polarized Sudanese politics and weakened those who supported compromise and consensus” he said.
Sudanese authorities have ordered more than a dozen aid groups working in Darfur out of the country, accusing them of passing “fabricated” information to the ICC.
The UN official said even though UNAMI did not have a humanitarian mandate, he said that the decision “caused a significant interruption to the provision of essential supplies and services”.
But Adada’s report on Darfur today was viewed as “too rosy” primarily by Western diplomats, according to UN officials who attended the closed session.
The US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice questioned the “low intensity conflict” labeling by Adada and suggested that he is contradicting his boss Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s reports.
UK & French delegates echoed the same view and criticized his allusion to a UNSC resolution suspending Bashir’s indictment. The French said that they gave a number of proposals to a Sudanese delegation that visited Paris last week “but were all turned down”.
However the Chinese delegation defended Adada’s report criticizing those who insist want on painting a bleak situation in Darfur.
The UN officials told Sudan Tribune that Adada “appeared taken aback” by the “unexpected” criticism.
In his briefing the UNAMID chief acknowledged that insecurity prevented his troops from visiting locations to assess the impact of the bombardments on the civilian population, including resulting casualties, destruction of property and displacements.
Adada said he is optimistic that UNAMID will reach its full deployment target from 15,000 to 26,000 by the end of the year. He reiterated the lack of military helicopters for the mission as a major target saying that it is up to troop contributing nations to provide them.
(ST)