Following is the text of an October 6 letter to Dr. Andrew Natsios from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Natsios, who served as U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan from October 2006 to December 2007 and previously headed the U.S. Agency for International Development, criticized a July 14 report by the Satellite Sentinel Project about mass graves in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan. The report included satellite imagery that the Project said pointed to "systematic killings and mass burials in this conflict-torn region of Sudan."
To: Ambassador Andrew Natsios, Distinguished Professor of Public Diplomacy, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
In a 5 October 2011 interview in the Kampala, Uganda-based newspaper The Independent, you stated that "I get my intel from other credible sources in the government and we have clearly determined that George Clooney's Sentinel Project is making false accusations. That's what they always do."
You were speaking in reference to the Satellite Sentinel Project's (SSP) 14 July 2011 report identifying three apparent mass graves in Kadugli, the first of eight alleged sites containing mass graves that SSP has publicly reported so far.
The findings in that report were based on the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative's (HHI) analysis of DigitalGlobe satellite imagery and direct eyewitness accounts, which were later corroborated by a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) report. The Harvard-based team leads the review of satellite images and eye witness accounts, produces the analytic reports, and manages the daily operations of SSP. HHI takes full responsibility for the content and veracity of each and every SSP report.
We are perplexed by your statements about SSP's reports, particularly in light of the fact that your claims seem unverifiable. You provide no concrete evidence to support these claims and you mention only unnamed sources in the US Government, who do not represent the official US position on evidence of mass graves in South Kordofan. The US State Department has called for an independent investigation of alleged mass graves and other potential war crimes in South Kordofan, and has never confirmed nor denied the existence of mass graves in Kadugli.
SSP's evidence, analyzed by HHI, is the following:
The 14 July report was the result of over a month of intensive satellite surveillance of Kadugli by SSP in the area in and around the Tilo School where the three graves were independently identified by eyewitness accounts. Archival imagery of the site was also reviewed. The site was independently identified by an eyewitness who did not have access to this imagery, and whose account was corroborated by two other eyewitnesses.
One of the eyewitnesses told SSP that Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) killed an unknown number of civilians near the Tilo Secondary School, in Kadugli on 8 June. A second, separate eyewitness report directly received by SSP, corroborated by DigitalGlobe imagery, alleged that at least two pits were dug on 8 June less than a kilometer south of the Tilo School in Kadugli and approximately 100 meters from a nearby radio tower. The eyewitness reported seeing an earthmover there digging pits.
By the evening of 8 June, the same eyewitness reported that large green trucks were moving back and forth from the site. The eyewitness claimed that dead bodies had been picked up from the market area of Kadugli and other areas in Kadugli around that time. Men at the site were reportedly unloading dead bodies from the trucks and depositing them in the open pits. The eyewitness said that he estimated that 100 or more bodies were deposited at the site that evening.
HHI's analysis of satellite imagery taken during that time is consistent with these allegations that mass graves had been recently dug in that location. The UNHCHR report released after SSP's report contains the same allegations and specific details from other sources, including the presence of an earthmover and the transport of bodies from Kadugli town to that site during that time period. Since the 14 July SSP report containing this particular evidence of apparent mass graves, SSP has published images and analysis consistent with independently verified eyewitness accounts of at least five other sites containing additional alleged mass graves.
The international community, including the US Congress, treats as fact that civilians in South Kordofan are being intentionally targeted by SAF-aligned forces; that credible evidence of potential war crimes exists, including mass graves; that a humanitarian crisis is underway; and that an independent international investigation of these alleged atrocities is urgently required. The Government of Sudan, however, continues to restrict even the most basic humanitarian access to the area.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
In this dire context, unverifiable claims, including unsubstantiated accusations that Harvard researchers have lied about their findings, undermines the international effort to alleviate human suffering on-the-ground and hold alleged perpetrators to account. As both a former diplomat and current scholar, HHI invites you to come to Harvard to review SSP's reports and the evidence on which they are based, and publicly share your findings.
Signed:
Charlie Clements, MD, MPH. Director Human Rights Documentation, Satellite Sentinel Project. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Kennedy School, Harvard University
Vincenzo Bolletino, PhD. Executive Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Nathaniel A. Raymond. Director of Operations, Satellite Sentinel Project. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
