UN admits it moved wanted Sudanese official on its helicopters

January 11, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The United Nations revealed on Tuesday that it has allowed a Sudanese official wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to board one of its helicopters and took him to the highly volatile border region of Abyei this week.

“[T]he [UNMIS] Mission is mandated to provide good offices to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement parties in their efforts to resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations, and I can tell you that the UN Mission in Sudan has been working with the parties, including local authorities, to contain any potential violence that may escalate,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in his press briefing today in a response to a question.

“As you know, there have been clashes in Abyei, and these clashes were actually threatening to escalate into a wider war. And so Governor Haroun was critical to bringing the Misseriya leaders in southern Kordofan to a peace meeting in Abyei to stop further clashes and killings,” he added.

The Misseriya Arab tribes people and Ngok Dinka people based in Abyei have been involved in clashes since last Friday in which at least 33 people have been killed, according to the two sides. Many have linked the violence to the ongoing referendum vote being held in southern Sudan.

Haroun is one of three individuals from the government side named by the ICC as having masterminded war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur region. The Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir is also wanted for genocide in Darfur.

Sudan which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court refused to hand him over despite having the warrant issues in 2007.

The UN spokesperson suggested that Haroun may well be transported again should the needed arises.

“The Mission will continue to provide the necessary support to those key players in their pursuits to find a peaceful solution,” he said and added that this “was a part of that mediation effort”.

But Richard Dicker, director of International Justice program at New York-based Human Rights Watch, criticized the move

“I have real concerns. Ahmed Haroun is a charged war criminal linked to the worst abuses in Darfur.” he told Reuters.

“The question I have really is was there no other means for Ahmed Haroun to make it to the meeting,” Dicker added.

“I think the U.N.’s posture should be of keeping a distance from him. I think the U.N. should be held to a high standard with regard to their flying Haroun to a meeting. There needs to be a high threshold of necessity.”

The ICC is not a U.N. body and the United Nations is not a signatory to it but has promised under an agreement with the court to cooperate with it.

An opinion issued by the U.N. office of legal affairs in 2006 said contacts between U.N. representatives and people indicted by international courts “should be limited to what is strictly required for carrying out U.N. mandated activities.”

In the past ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo have said that the presence of Haroun in his current position is a negative indication.

“The fact that Ahmed Haroun is in Kordofan is not a good sign,” Ocampo said. “His career is basically attacking civilians.”

Some Western diplomats have also agreed that this was a cause for concern.

(ST)