Sudan criticises Ban Ki-moon’s statement on expulsion of senior UN officials
December 26, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government quickly reacted to a statement by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in which he condemned Khartoum’s decision to expel two senior UN officials and called upon Khartoum to reverse its decision immediately.
UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement on Thursday that the “sanctioning of UN personnel sent to Sudan to carry out their duties in accordance with the UN Charter is unacceptable.”
“The Secretary General calls on the government of Sudan to reverse its decision immediately and urges it to cooperate fully with all UN entities present in Sudan”.
Today, Sudan’s foreign ministry issued a statement expressing regret for Ban’s “hasty” rebuke of Khartoum and criticising his suggestion that it was meant as punishment of UN personnel working in the country.
“Sudan is not targeting the United Nations by virtue of being an original member [of the UN] and committed to the provisions of its charter and appreciates its efforts to achieve security, stability and development in Sudan. It is actually striving to develop this relationship in accordance with the provisions of the UN charter and the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council”.
The ministry underscored that the move is in line with Sudan’s sovereign rights as outlined by article (9) of Vienna Convention, warning that the government will repeat such expulsions if necessary against any diplomat or international official who exceeds his or her mandate.
With regard to al-Za’atari, the statement justified his expulsion with an interview he made earlier this month with the Norwegian newspaper Bistandsaktuelt claiming that it contained insults by him against the Sudanese people and their political leadership.
This, the Sudanese foreign ministry said, conflicts with his duties as a senior international employee of the United Nations in Sudan.
“He was asked to submit clarifications on it and was granted sufficient time to come up with the audio recording of the interview with the Norwegian newspaper on the grounds that the newspaper had misrepresented his statements, but he did not do so”.
“As it is a well known by convention and law that no international staff member, no matter who he is, shall install himself as an evaluator or a judge on the performance of a head of state and insult entire people even though he is required to serve the people of the United Nations with impartiality and professionalism”.
On December 2nd, the government sponsored Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) website claimed that Za’atari directed insults at the Sudanese people and president Hassan Omer Hassan al-Bashir in an interview with Bistandsaktuelt.
SMC said that the UN official described Sudan as a country living in a humanitarian and economic crisis and that the society has become dependent on aid.
But Za’atari told Sudan Tribune at the time that statements attributed to him were not entirely true adding that “It is inconceivable that I offend Sudan”.
While he acknowledged being interviewed by the Oslo-based newspaper, Za’atari suggested that there is a possibility that the transcript contained errors due to mistranslation from English to Norwegian.
He also did not rule out that SMC website distorted the interview as well.
The Jordanian-born official said that statements attributed to him warrant an apology from the newspaper.
“This is unfortunate and I did not utter this serious talk,” Za’atari said before noting that he has an audio recording of the interview.
He went on to say that he did describe the humanitarian situation in Sudan as difficult but emphasized that he cannot cross the boundaries of decency and politeness.
Za’atari also denied receiving any summons from Sudanese authorities to inquire him about those statements.
SMC website said that Za’atari criticized president Bashir by saying that he ruled Sudan for decades “with an iron fist”. But Bistandsaktuelt website showed that this description of Bashir was part of a preface to the interview written by the Norwegian media house and not part of Za’atari’s statements.
It also pointed out that Za’atari told the newspaper that the UN is striking a delicate balance in dealing with a person accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur.
“We must accept the fact that Bashir is the president of Sudan. We may or may not like it; the reality is that we must cooperate with him. Failing to deal with this is the same as condemning a nation and its people to great suffering,” Za’atari told the newspaper according to the interview transcript published on Bistandsaktuelt website.
SMC quoted Za’atari as sarcastically describing Sudanese people as finding it hard to live without aid and that the situation is getting worse every month.
As pertaining to Helle, the Sudanese foreign ministry described her as “extremely prejudiced” against the government and dealt with local officials in an “arrogant and cocky” manner.
“She has also taken decisions without consulting the Sudanese government to stop the financial and technical support to a number of programs and strategic projects with developmental, political and economic yield to Sudan which runs contrary to her functions and role as a representative of the United Nations in addressing the developmental conditions, reducing poverty, increasing growth as well as developing and building public institutions”.
The ministry also accused her of bypassing the aid agreement signed between the Government of Sudan and the United Nations in July 2012 which represents the strategic vision of cooperation between the two sides for the period from 2013 to 2016.
It called on the UN Secretary General to reverse his condemnation and impress on UN employees to respect sovereignty of member states.
The ejection of the two UN officials come a month after the Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir called for peacekeepers from the joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), to leave, calling them a “security burden.”
Sudan had already shut UNAMID’s human rights office in Khartoum and called on the mission to prepare an exit plan, days after denying peacekeepers permission to pay a second visit to the site of alleged mass rapes by Sudanese soldiers in Tabit, a village in Darfur.
But the UN peacekeeping chief, Hervé Ladsous, said UNAMID was unlikely to bow to Sudan’s request to leave when the situation there appears to be worsening.
Sudanese authorities routinely accuse UN agencies working in the country of non-neutrality and seeking to serve the agenda of foreign intelligence agencies and going beyond their mandate. The security apparatus also closely monitors UN workers in Sudan.
Last April, the foreign ministry expelled the head of United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) in Sudan on charge of interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
Immediately after the first arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Bashir in March 2009, Sudan expelled 13 aid groups from Darfur accusing it of collaborating with the war crime courts.
Since then, the Sudanese government intensified its crackdown on foreign aid agencies.
(ST)