As
UN in S. Sudan
Says Yes to
Bombs & No
to JEM,
Stonewall on
Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 24 -- The
ongoing
conflict
between Sudan
and South
Sudan has
occupied at
the UN for
years,
billions of
dollars, many
claims.
But as an
August 2
deadline for
agreement
approaches,
the UN
does not
response to
simple written
questions
about the
conflict, and
Tuesday
maintained,
seemingly
unrealistically,
that agreement
should,
can and will
be reached by
August 2.
On
July 22, Inner
City Press
asked the
spokesman for
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Ladsous,
who has said
he will
refusal all
in-person
Press
questions, and
so to Ban
Ki-moon's two
top
spokespeople
"Can
DPKO -- UNMISS
or UNAMID --
confirm the
reported
aerial
bombardment
by Sudan in or
around Rumaker
in Northern
Bahr al Ghazal
state in
South Sudan?
Or, as Sudan
claims, of JEM
on its side of
the border?
If not now,
when will the
UN be able to
confirm or
deny these
bombings and
locations,
given that
they are being
used as a
reason to
call off the
talks before
August 2?"
Neither
these
nor simple
Syria
questions
posed at the
same time were
answered
or even
acknowledged.
So Inner City
Press left the
UN Security
Council
meeting
Tuesday about
Somalia and
Eritrea and
went to the UN
noon briefing
to ask in
person. Video
here, from
Minute 7:50.
Ban
and his lead
spokesman
Nesirky are on
the road, now
from Kosovo to
London for the
Olympics where
it's said
Prime Minister
David Cameron
will speak to
Vladimir Putin
about Syria at
a judo match.
(A wag
wondered who
would win that
martial arts
discussion.)
Ban's
Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey was
running the
briefing, but
did
not mention
Sudan in his
opening
statement.
So
Inner City
Press asked,
about the
reported
bombing -- the
UN has
already leaked
a report about
it to a
favored media
-- about the
reported
treatment of
JEM fighters
in South
Sudan, and for
Ban's view
of its the
August 2
deadline
should be
extended or
South Sudan
taken
the border
issue to The
Hague.
Del
Buey pulled
out a written
statement and
read that
UNMISS had
verified
six bombs two
kilometers
south of the
1-1-56 border,
and had NOT
verified any
JEM fighters
in South
Sudan. He said
Ban hopes the
isues
are resolved
by August 2 --
even though
the talks have
broken off.
Meanwhile
Del
Buey and
presumably
Ladsous and
his spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
-- there seems
to
be no reason
to pose
questions now,
since on
matter how
simple they
are not
answered --
had no
information
about reported
firings in the
UN Mission in
Western Sahara,
or if the UN
Mission in
Kosovo will
grant the Serbian
president's
request for UN
involvement in
the
talks.
Del
Buey said the
government is
not sworn it
in, implying
that the
president is
not the
president. If
you say so.
But again, who
if
anyone is
replacing
Babacar Gaye
as military
adviser while
he is in
Syria? Watch
this site.
, 
