At
UN, As Rebels
of SPLM-North
Meet
with UK &
Others, Sudan
Angry
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 24,
updated -- For
several days,
since a
delegation of
the
SPLM-North
rebels from
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
states were in
Washington,
Sudanese
diplomats in
New York have
been
complaining to
Inner City
Press that the
rebels have
had meetings
in and around
the
UN.
Sudan
says this
would be
inappropriate,
and claims
that the
SPLM-North met
not only with
Security
Council
delegations
but also with
UN
officials,
naming the
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs and
the concepts
of child
protection and
child
soldiers.
Since
the UN
Secretariat
has, for
example, urged
the
Credentials
Committee
of the General
Assembly to
switch sides
in the cases
of Cote
d'Ivoire,
Libya and
other
countries,
Inner City
Press would
not be
surprised, or
object.
But
as a matter of
journalism,
Inner City
Press
endeavored to
ask
Security
Council
delegations if
they had met
this week with
the
SPLM-North in
New York.
One Permanent
Representative
looked
surprised
and said, "I
couldn't tell
you that."
Another
confirmed the
SPLM-North
delegation,
but only not
for
attribution.
And
then to his
credit UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant, when
Inner City
Press asked
him if the
SPLM-North had
been in town
and met
with the UK
mission said,
"Yes."
Another UK
diplomat said
it concerned
humanitarian
issues and
Resolution
2046.
Why
not then do a
Arria Formula
meeting? Why
all the cloak
and dagger?
Update
of 3:02 pm:
France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Martin Briens,
when Inner
City Press
asked him if
France met
with
SPLM-North,
said "no
comment."
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman
told
Inner City
Press it is
very strange
to meet, and
use UN
premises to
meet, with a
group that
destabilitizes
peace.
Russia and
China, when
asked, were
aware of
SPLM-North
presence in
New York. The
Chinese
position is,
we are not
going to meet
with them.
Update
of 5:40 pm And
that is the
Russian
position as
well. Watch
this site.
, 
