Rift emerges between Mbeki & Bassole over Darfur peace process: source

November 15, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The joint United Nations (UN) – African Union (AU) mediator Dijibril Bassole is becoming increasingly discontent with the chairman of the AU High Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD) Thabo Mbeki following the Peace and Security Council (PSC) summit held last month in Abuja, a senior African diplomat told Sudan Tribune.

The PSC summit endorsed the report compiled by the AUPD which conducted regional and local missions to come up with recommendations that will harmonize peace, justice and reconciliation as a roadmap to end the six year conflict in Darfur.

The diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Bassole arrived in Nigeria only to discover that his name was left off the list of speakers at the summit by the AU secretariat.

After several inquiries Bassole discovered that Mbeki was behind the move and got the impression that the former South African president is seeking to sideline him and take over the Darfur mediation, he said.

“He [Bassole] was told informally that the report was the product of the AU and as such he had no business addressing the PSC,” the diplomat added.

After the UN-AU joint mediator made formal complaints to the African leaders, he was allowed to address the PSC.

The diplomat claimed Mbeki and the AU Commission Chairman, Jean Ping of “fighting a silent battle” with the UN to take the Darfur file away from the world body.

“Ping is one of those people with militant views on rejecting any non-Africans taking part in solving the continent’s problems and playing the Western conspiracy card all the time in reference to the [UN] Security Council. His positions and public support of Khartoum is a reflection of these views and is becoming increasingly problematic to the AU’s credibility. Mbeki shares Ping’s views but is smarter about expressing them” he said.

“They view Bassole as being closer to the [UN] Security Council than the AU which is why they don’t feel comfortable with him. Bassole is trying to be impartial in his role without favoring the Sudanese government and they [Mbeki & Ping] don’t like that” the diplomat added.

This week Mbeki expressed disappointment with what he suggested to be a non-endorsement by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to the AUPD report with an implicit criticism of Western countries sitting on the council.

“They’re [UNSC] extremely upset because we didn’t deliver a report stating that a bloody war was taking place. There is still a low-intensity war going on, since there has been no peace agreement yet. People who allege otherwise, are creating their own convenient and self-justifying reality,” he said at an address at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law on Wednesday evening.

He urged African countries to strengthen ties with China adding that “Western countries are becoming increasingly concerned about China’s growing presence in Africa”.

Western members at the UNSC have been at odds with the leadership of the United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) for their depiction of the conflict as a ‘low intensity’ one.

The former UNAMID chief Rodolphe Adada was forced to resign after Western countries expressed dissatisfaction over his performance but he bitterly defended his tenure and lashed out his critics insisting that war in Darfur is over.

(ST)