Review team clears UNMAID over accusations of Darfur cover-up
October 30, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – A UN review team said that the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) did not seek to intentionally cover crimes but criticized the joint operation for underreporting attacks on civilians committed by government militias.
In a report published by the American magazine Foreign Policy in April 2014, Elbasri gave accounts of 16 incidents between August 2012 and the end of 2013, saying the hybrid operation ignored to reports on these attacks carried out by Sudanese government militia against civilians.
The spokesperson of the secretary general said in a statement released on 29 October that the review team examined the material related to the incidents mentioned by Elbasri and met UNAMID and UN staff in connection with these alleged crimes.
“The Review Team did not find any evidence to support these allegations,” says the spokesperson. Nonetheless, “it did find a tendency to under-report unless absolutely certain of the facts. In five of the cases examined, the Mission did not provide UN Headquarters with full reports on the circumstances surrounding these incidents, which involved possible wrongdoing by Government or pro-Government forces,” he added.
He further blamed the joint mission for the adoption of “an unduly conservative approach to the media” and not being vocal enough to inform the press about these incidents “even in the absence of all the facts”.
Commenting on these conclusions, the spokesperson said the UN chief is “deeply troubled by these findings” stressing that “keeping silent or under-reporting on incidents involving human rights violations and threats or attacks on UN peacekeepers cannot be condoned under any circumstances”.
Ban further pledged to take the necessary measures to ensure full and accurate reporting by the hybrid mission.
The head of the hybrid mission, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, from his post in September following the formation of this review team.
(ST)