At
UN,
Council to
Hear of South
Sudan If Not
Syria, Zuma
Coming to Town
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 3, updated
-- As South
Africa took
over the
presidency of
the
UN Security
Council and
met with other
Council
members
Tuesday
morning,
violence in
South Sudan
was a major
topic.
"We'll be
getting a
briefing on
that," a
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press as
he emerged the
chamber. [The Permanent
Representatives
of the US and
UK told Inner
City Press the
same and more,
click here for
that story.]
"Somalia too."
Another
confirmed
that a letter
was received
from Sudan "on
December 30"
about the
death of
Justice &
Equality
Movement rebel
leader
Khalil Ibrahim
and JEM
allegedly
entering South
Sudan.
Syria,
of course,
is among the
elephants in
the room. The
resolution
drafted by
December's
president
Russia remains
on the table,
much to the
consternation
of Western
Council
members.
Meanwhile one
of the
Council's and
UN's claimed
successes of
2011, Yemen,
lurches
backward
with Ali Saleh
saying he will
stay in the
country and
"not allow
the collapse
of state
institutions."
What will the
Council do
now?
South
African
president
Jacob Zuma,
Inner City
Press learned,
will come to
the
Security
Council while
in New York
for the last
meeting of the
Global
Sustainability
Panel, along
with co-chair
Tarja Halonen
of Finland. Zuma
will preside
over the
Security
Council debate
on January 12.
(c) UN Photo
Global
Sustainability
Panel with
Zuma, Halonen,
Rudd et al. -
see you
January
The
first working
day of every
month, the
incoming
Security
Council
president meet
bilaterally
with other
members,
usually all 14
other members.
But the
list obtained
by Inner City
Press of
Tuesday's
initial
meetings does
not mention,
for example,
France, nor
next month's
president,
Togo. [At 1
pm after the UK
and US left,
Inner City
Press was told
that France
and at least
one other will
be in the
afternoon.]
The
Permanent
Representative
of another new
member,
Morocco,
entered the
Council at
11 am, his
cell phone
pressed to his
ear. A new
cabinet was
just
announced in Rabat.
On his way out
at 11:30, he
genially
called the
bilaterals
"normal."
Over
the holiday,
Inner City
Press has
learned, in
the course of
the Capital
Master
Plan
construction
project wires
were cut,
leaving no
connection
between the UN
Television
control room
and the UN Dag
Hammarskajold
Library
auditorium,
where a
briefing about
South Sudan
was scheduled
for noon.
Likewise, the
ID card locks
for the
engineers'
booths in
the Security
Council
weren't
working. And
so it goes at
the UN.
, 
