US: Bolton blocks UN briefing on atrocities in Darfur Sudan

Oct 10 UN report says U.S. Ambassador John Bolton blocked a U.N. envoy on Monday from briefing the Security Council on grave human rights violations in Darfur, saying the council had to act against atrocities and not just talk about them.

Bolton, joined by China, Algeria and Russia, prevented Juan Mendez, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser for the prevention of genocide, from briefing the council on his recent visit to Darfur, despite pleas from Annan and 11 other council members that Mendez be heard.

Update Oct 11: UN (AFP) report report - US miffed by UN failure to stop Darfur violence.

Update Oct 12: More on this strange story [still don't know what to make of it] from Washington Oct 11 and UPI Oct 12. The US apparently was sympathetic to the reports from Pronk, Annabi and Perez, but wanted unspecified action, not more talk or statements from the council. "Some saw the Bolton move and the U.S. official's explanation as part of Bolton's "no nonsense" approach to the world organization, said one US official.

Note, the report points out the word "sanctions" had been barred and "measures" was found as a substitute - apparently, China was regarded as being behind objecting to the word "sanctions."

Update Oct 12: US State Department briefing to reporters October 12 (scroll down to towards the end of the page to see where it says "I do have something new to tell you today and that is that we are appointing Ambassador Cameron Hume as our Charge at the Embassy in Khartoum."

Update Oct 16: Excerpt from PA report in Scotsman Oct 11: "Sudan also has blocked 70 of 105 armoured personnel carriers for the AU troops and refused to allow NATO in to train AU troops, Mendez said in his report to the [UN security] council. Mendez wanted to brief the council on that report, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked the council to hear him. But that request was blocked by the US and three Sudanese allies, China, Russia and Algeria, according to council diplomats."
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Snippets from blogland

Oct 11: About Mr Bolton not having time to listen to the latest briefing as he is so busy actually doing something about the atrocities, Contango says it's time to act.

Oct 11 Mankind Minus One writes Part of the Problem - unfortunately, Bolton proposed no solutions to act on.

Oct 11: Read all the comments at The Huffington Post Bolton blocks envoy from briefing UN Security Council on Darfur atrocities ...

Oct 13: Captain Marlow writes I love Bolton!

Oct 14: AMERICAblog's post entitled 'more violence in Darfur and Bolton does nothing' attracts 47 comments so far. [I couldn't resist commenting with links to four Eronat posts from Sudan Watch archives]

Tags: Darfur Sudan UN Africa Huffington Post Bolton John Bolton sanctions measures AMERICAblog