Sudan Not on August Agenda of UN Council, Russia Against Larger Investigations But Has "Clear Picture of Bizarre Incident"

By Matthew Russell Lee
August 4, 2010
The Inner City Press
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc4sudan080410.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- Despite increased violence in Darfur and the stalling of talks in South Sudan about the referendum, the UN Security Council in August does not have a single Sudan item on its agenda.
Inner City Press on August 3 asked this month's Council president Vitaly Churkin of Russia how had been responsible for the hostage taking of the Russian pilot in Darfur. Video here, from Minute 20:32.
Churkin said Russian now has a "clear picture of this rather bizarre episode." But he declined twice to say if government aligned Janjaweed had been responsible. "The Sudanese authorities did what they could," he said. Informed sources say that Janjaweed did it in order to revive or increase payments from the Sudanese government.
Following up on the July 30 Security Council meeting on the killings in the Kalma camp, Inner City Press asked Churkin about what other Council members revealed, that Russia along with China opposed France's request for an "investigation."
   While Churkin began, You are not accurate in your assertion, he then said that there is a danger of the UN turning into an investigative body, with "new panels springing up." The reference, it seemed, was to the UN's advisory panel of experts on war crimes in Sri Lanka, which Russia has opposed.
  Like China, though, and the U.S., Russia has a special envoy to Sudan, Mr. Margelov, who was quoted blaming the pilot taking on the Janjaweed.
   Calling the killings in the Kalma camp a "relatively minor incident," Churkin said Russia had accepted a UNAMID investigation, just not a "larger investigation." We'll see -- top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy is slated to brief the Press later today.