Former UNAMID spokesperson urges ICC to push for new probe on cover-up claims
December 3, 2014 (WASHINGTON) – The former spokesperson of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur Aicha Elbasri sent a letter to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda urging her to press the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to form an “independent” commission of inquiry into cover-up committed by UN peacekeepers deployed in western Sudan.
In her letter, Elbasri blasted the UN leadership and the team formed by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to investigate claims of manipulation of reporting on Darfur by UNAMID saying it turned out to be “an internal, partial, biased and secretive process”.
“This review body was incapable of uncovering the truth about the gross misconduct and routine manipulation of the facts that have become the hallmarks of UNAMID and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). As a result, those who manipulated the truth previously continue to do so, confident they will be shielded by the U.N.’s questionable immunity policy,” Elbasri said in her letter seen by Sudan Tribune.
Elbasri, resigned from her job in April 2013 after claiming that she had been prevented from carrying out her responsibility of accurately informing the public about what was happening in Darfur.
Last April, Foreign Policy magazine published allegations based on internal reports leaked by Elbasri showing a UNAMID leadership that is reluctant to cast blame on Khartoum and as a result declined to accurately report crimes committed by government forces and its allied militias.
In July, the UN secretary general agreed to set up an internal probe to review the allegations. The findings concluded that UNAMID officials in Darfur, fearing reprisals from an often hostile Sudanese government, self-censored their reporting on Sudanese abuses, leading to “under-reporting of incidents when government and pro-government forces were suspected to be involved”.
But the team asserted that the underreporting did not amount to a cover-up on the scale claimed by Elbasri and others.
In her letter today Elbasri renewed her criticism of the investigation team formed by the UN saying its head Philip Cooper who is a UN retiree and former Department of Peacekeeping (DPKO) official was inclined to write favorably of UNAMID.
“The review was far from thorough. The Cooper team admitted having reviewed the public reports on only six incidents out of a total of 16. It also acknowledged that it did not examine all “the Secretary-General and the DPKO/ Department of Political Affairs (DPA) Weekly Briefing Notes on Field Operations to the Security Council,” she said.
“The review was not public. The level of secrecy that surrounded this review is rather rare and extremely disturbing. In fact, the U.N. maintained secrecy about the composition of the review team as well as the members’ backgrounds, credentials or investigation experience. It also concealed the terms of reference and the timeline for their work. And most shockingly, still to this day, the U.N. refuses to share the full Cooper report with Security Council Member States, the International Criminal Court and the public. What has been published so far is only a five-page summary”.
Elbasri addressed the ICC prosecutor by saying that “the only credible option left to uncover the truth about the U.N. manipulation of reporting is an investigation under Security Council auspices. Such a step will ensure accountability for any past wrong-doing and will work to ensure non-repetition of these serious acts of misconduct in the future. This is the least that the international community can do to make amends to the people of Darfur”.
She called on Bensouda to use her upcoming briefing before the UNSC to ask the council to order an independent commission of inquiry into the cover-up.
“At this juncture, the only credible option left to uncover the truth about the U.N. manipulation of reporting is an investigation under Security Council auspices. Such a step will ensure accountability for any past wrong-doing and will work to ensure non-repetition of these serious acts of misconduct in the future. This is the least that the international community can do to make amends to the people of Darfur”.
Last June, Besnouda referred to cover-up reports and asked the council to authorize a “thorough, independent and public inquiry” probe into allegations that UNAMID being subject to “manipulation” through acts committed “with the intentional effect of covering up crimes committed against civilians and peacekeepers”.
The ICC prosecutor said at the time that the responsibility for the “cover-up” may lie “with a handful of individuals” but warned that it undermines the credibility of the peacekeeping mission.
“UN reports are an important and increasingly unique source of public information about the situation in Darfur, and must be held to the highest standard for the sake of the victims in Darfur” she said.
“Victims in Darfur and the peacekeepers who have sacrificed their lives deserve better. We all do,” Bensouda added.
Some members of the council expressed support for a formal query while others expressed concern without backing it.
Relations between the hybrid operation in Darfur and the Sudanese government have worsened after reports accusing the Sudanese army of mass rape in North Darfur earlier in November.
The Sudanese authorities denied the allegations of sexual abuse and accused the mission of echoing unverified media reports before to investigate it. Khartoum also summoned the acting head of the mission following a report saying that the heavy presence of military and police made a conclusive investigation difficult.
Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir said last week that UNAMID has become a security burden and called on the peacekeepers to leave the country.
“We want a clear plan for the exit of UNAMID from Darfur,” Bashir said in a press conference held on Sunday, adding “We have instructed the foreign ministry to work with the United Nations to end the presence of UNAMID in Darfur.”
In August the UN Security Council in its resolution 2173 extended the mission’s mandate for 10 more months and suggested it consider forming advance plans for its eventual departure from Darfur.
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Full text of the open letter to the ICC prosecutor from the former UNAMID spokesperson