At
UN on Darfur,
Rare
Dissension On
LRA, S. Sudan
Qs Deferred
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
31 -- When the
Darfur
peacekeeping
mission was
extended
Tuesday by the
UN Security
Council,
Azerbaijan
abstained, and
Pakistan and
Guatemala
spoke
afterward in
the Chamber
criticizing
aspects of the
resolution and
how it was
negotiated.
This is rare.
Inner
City Press
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about the
three critical
members. She
told Inner
City Press,
"They speak
for
themselves."
Later
Inner City
Press came to
understand
that
Guatemala's
statement that
since there is
no evidence of
the Lord's
Resistance
Army being in
Darfur it
should not be
in the
resolution is
both a matter
of
principle and
a practice
one, as a
Troop
Contributing
Country with
personnel in
Darfur.
Inner
City Press
asked the
drafter, UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant, why the
LRA is in the
resolution.
Lyall
Grant replied
that "the LRA
should play no
role
whatsoever and
should be
completely
absent from
Darfur. Then
there is
nothing in
this
resolution
which suggests
that we think
the LRA are
active in
Darfur.
But
by that logic,
why not
include
language about
Al Qaeda in a
Security
Council
resolution
about its
mission in
Timor Leste,
or Haiti, to
"discourage"
entry there?
Inner
City Press
asked Sudan's
Ambassador
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman is he
views
Guatemala as
an ally of his
country on
this. He did
not answer
this part of
the question,
but did say
that the
mandate of
UNMISS in
South Sudan
should include
similar
reporting on
Darfur rebel
groups
who, he says,
go there.
When
Colombia's
Nestor Osorio
came out for
the tenth and
it seems final
Q&A
stakeout of
his Council
presidency,
Inner City
Press asked if
in his
upcoming trip
to Sudan as
chair of the
Sudan
Sanctions
committee he
feels he could
enter South
Sudan.
Osorio
noted that the
Council
visited both
countries last
year. Inner
City
Press asked if
he'll do a
briefing or
stakeout upon
his return. It
seems he will.
Watch this
site.
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