On
Sudan, 3
Meetings, No
Outcome, Blind
to
Ansar Al-Dine
in Darfur?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 7 –
Sudan is the
biggest or at
least most
frequent item
on the agenda
of the UN
Security
Council. Yet
after
more than two
hours of
consultations
by the Council
on Thursday
about
three separate
Sudanese
issues, there
was no
outcome, and
no summary.
Inner
City Press
asked UK
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Philip Parham
if
there was any
progress in
getting aid
into Southern
Kordofan and
Blue
Nile states.
He said no,
“but we keep
pushing.”
Inner
City Press
asked a UN
official
present what
on the
issue(s) is
happening.
“Nothing,” he
said.
It
seems that
most of the
Sudan and
South Sudan
issues are on
hold, with
the Council
deferring or
wanting to
defer to the
African Union.
A
pro-Juba
source told
Inner City
Press, “the AU
has to prove
that
its bite is at
least somewhat
similar to its
bark.”
A
non-Permanent
Security
Council member
told Inner
City Press
that
there might,
at some later
undefined
date, be a
Council press
statement
about the
issues
discussed
Thursday
morning, with
the
exception of
Sudan's
ongoing
blocking or
“blacklisting”
of UN
sanctions
finance expert
Schbley.
But the
Council
couldn't even
put
out a press
statement for
the
humanitarian
pledging
conference on
Syria: will it
on this?
While
February's
Council
president Kim
Sook of South
Korea held an
informative
February 4 press
conference
about the
month's
program of
work, it
is after
closed door
consultations
like today's
that a
stakeout by
the Council
presidency is
particularly
useful. This
was raised at
the February 4
briefing by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
as a request
for stakeouts.
Perhaps one
will be
combined with
the
afternoon's
Yemen
consultations.
Repeating
a
question it
asked at the
day's noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press
asked French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
about the
Ansar
Al-Dine rebels
from Mali
being seen in
Darfur. “I
heard the
rumor,”
Araud said.
At
the noon
briefing,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky
answered Inner
City Press
that there are
reports and
rumors
both ways,
that the
Malian rebels
are there and
that they are
not,
and the UNAMID
peacekeeping
mission has
been unable to
verify either.
UNAMID
spends more
than $1
billion a
year, and any
flight of
rebels from
Mali into
Sudan would
clearly impact
on
international
peace and
security. What
are UNAMID and
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
doing? Watch
this site.
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