As
Sudans
Disagree on
Abyei,
France Talks
Legislature,
US Half on
Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 9 --
Amid the happy
talk Thursday
at the UN
about
Sudan
and South
Sudan, the
lingering
issue of Abyei
was dodged by
the
US and to a
lesser degree
France.
Inner
City Press
asked Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman
about the
position
expressed by
his South
Sudanese
counterpart
Francis
Nazario: that
the nomadic
Miseriya
should NOT be
allowed to
vote in Abyei.
If
he is
repeating that
position,
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman told
Inner
City Press,
then "it will
not lead to
any success in
resolving
the issue."
The
issue of who
can vote in
Abyei is one
on which much
rides. US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
after the two
Sudan sessions
came out and
took
four
questions; as
selected, two
of them were
not about
Sudan but
rather Syria.
After
this
Syria-heavy
stakeout,
Inner City
Press went and
asked
Ambassador
Rice which
groups the US
thought should
be able to
vote in Abyei.
She
smiled but did
not answer.
By most
accounts, it
was the US
which
prevailing on
South Sudan to
make the oil
transfer fee
agreement.
What is the US
thinking, and
what will it
do, about
Abyei? The
question
should have
been answered,
or at least
taken, on
Thursday.
But it was
not.
Ominously,
another
Council member
told Inner
City Press
than many of
the supposed
"agreements"
have yet to be
signed, and
Sudan's Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman told
Inner City
Press that
nothing is
solved until
everything is
solved.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
this month's
Council
president, did
take and
partially
respond to the
question, off
camera in
front of the
stake
out. Inner
City Press
asked him
about Abyei,
and he said
the voting
there is not
up to France.
(Some would
say the
position is
not the
same on Cote
d'Ivoire, but
that's another
story."
But
Araud went out
to note the
disagreement
about naming
what he called
the final
"legislator,"
saying that
once this is
decided,
the problem is
resolved. That
may not turn
out to be
entirely
accurate, but
at least he
answered.
Another
major
Council member
told Inner
City Press
that yes,
Abyei is "the
big one," to
be resolved
only in the
face to face
meetings of
Presidents
Omar al Bashir
and Salva
Kiir.
Neither
Ambassador
Francis
Nazario nor
the South
Sudanese
present on
Thursday came
to the
stakeout to
take
questions.
Earlier this
week at
the Cote
d'Ivoire
national day
reception,
Inner City
Press asked
Ambassador
Nazario if the
Kafia Kingi
enclave in
Western Bahr
al-Ghazal is
in South Sudan
according to
maps of Jan 1,
1956. We'll
report the
South Sudanese
answer upon
receipt.
Inner
City Press
asked Sudan's
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman, on
camera, if
the repair
of the oil
facilities at
Heglig
would be
covered by the
$3
billion lump
sum (which may
or may not
ever be paid),
or if Sudan is
looking for
separate
compensation.
Separately
compensated,
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman said.
Inner
City Press
asked, Do you
have an
estimate?
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman said
a team needs
to go out and
estimate it.
South
Sudan says
that their
role in the
destruction
still need to
be
proved.
What does the
US think? For
a few days,
Inner City
Press has
asked or tried
to ask US
Ambassador
Rice, who
should pay to
fix
Heglig? She
has smiled but
not answered.
These then,
and not always
Syria, would
seem to be
questions for
the stakeout
after the
Security
Council
meetings about
Sudan.
Or,
for example,
what does the
US Mission
think of the
prospective
use of
US Tax
Equalization
Funds to cover
the $400
million
"associated
costs" overrun
of the UN's
Capital Master
Plan? In
the past,
Rice took a
TEF question
at the
stakeout.
In August
2012, would or
will she?
Watch this
site.
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