Threatened
(& Merited) Cuts to UN
Abyei Mission Discussed,
Pushed Back Against, Postponed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, UNSC group photo
here
UNITED NATIONS,
May 12 -- With the mandate of
the UN mission in Abyei set to
expire on May 15, the US as
penholder proposed cutting a part
of the mission that has not
been functions, the support of
the Joint Border Verification
and Monitoring Mechanism
(JBVMM). But Ethiopia, the
lone troop contributor to the
mission, and others pushed
back. While the Council met
behind closed door, Inner City
Press the lone media at the
stakeout - also the only one
evicted and still
restricted by the UN -
broadcast, here.
Afterward a Sudanese diplomat
emerged and told Inner City
Press of a possible
compromised; he waved off the
UNTV boom mic, a new entrant
through an opaque process.
Finally Uruguay's Elbio
Rosselli, president of the
Council, emerged and said
negotiations continued. Inner
City Press asked him if
instead of cuts there might be
"benchmarks;" there seemed to
be recognition. Video
here. Will the showdown
be avoid and the money continue
flowing unchanged? Watch this
site. After the UN Security
Council had closed door
consultations on Guinea Bissau
and Lebanon on May 11, the
office of UN Spokesperson
Stephane Dujarric announced
that Council president Elbio
Rosselli would speak at the
UNTV stakeout. But other than
Inner City Press, which
Dujarric evicted and still
restricts, no other media
came. Still Rosselli to his
credit agreed to do Q&A.
Inner City Press asked him if
the withdrawal from Guinea
Bissau of ECOMIS was discussed
- it was - and for how long
Jeffrey Feltman will fill in
on Resolution 1559 on Lebanon
(it's unclear). Then Inner
City Press asked Rosselli of
something he'd said two days
before, that there might be
more than a Press Statement on
North Korea's most recent
missile launch. Rosselli
replied that work continues,
then he left. Still, he took
questions and responded to
them - better than many in the
UN Secretariat. On May 9 after
members of the UN Security
Council met with Kofi Annan
and fellow Elders Lakhdar
Brahimi, Gro Harlem Brundtland
and Mary Robinson on May 9,
Inner City Press asked the
Council's President for May
Elbio Rosselli of Uruguay if
Myanmar, on which Annan and
The Elders have worked, came
up. No, he said, the focus had
been on impasses in the
Council on Syria, South Sudan,
the conflicts springing from
climate change. The latter
topic he said had been raised
by Annan and Robinson, in the
closed door meeting at the
International Peace Institute
across from the UN (Uruguay's
mission arranged for an
elevator foyer stakeout, which
was appreciated.)
Earlier
on May 9 Inner City
Press asked
Gro Harlem
Brundtland and
Lakhdar
Brahimi about
the Rohingya
and whether
Aung San Suu
Kyi was or is
on the path to
becoming an
Elder. Gro
Harlem
Brundtland
said Suu Kyi
was a form of
Elder while
imprisoned,
but cannot be
while involved
in politics.
And after she
retires? If
the Rohingya
are still
treated this
way? Brahimi
cited Annon's
report
forthcoming in
October.We'll
see.
Back on May 1 when he took on
the Presidency of the UN
Security Council for the
month, Ambassador Rosselli on
May
1 took questions from
the media about the month's
Program of Work. Inner City
Press asked him about new
envoys for Burundi (Michel
Kafando) and Western
Sahara (Horst
Kohler, apparently Inner
City Press' 227th
question on Western Sahara
according to Morocco's count),
and about the May 30 meeting
on Yemen. Video
here. Rosselli said the
envoys are up to the Secretary
General and spoke about
Morocco's ouster, now
reversed, of the MINURSO
mission. On Yemen he said the
meeting is at the end of the
month because it is hard to
move these around, it's like
Tetris. On behalf of the Free
UN Coalition for Access Inner
City Press asked Rosselli
after the month's eight closed
door consultations to hold
on-camera stakeouts on UNTV.
We note
that Frente Polisario's April
28 stakeout, unlike that of
Morocco's Omar Hilale, is
still as of this writing on
May 1 not on the UNTV website.
We'll have more on this.
Back at
the beginning of March,
then-incoming UNSC President
Matthew Rycroft of the UK
answered Inner City Press on
Burundi by referring to France
as the penholder. On Yemen --
on which the UK holds the pen
-- he said sometimes there is
a benefit to a closed door
discussion. Fine: but what's
the problem with an open
briefing, then closed
consultations? The Free
UN Coalition for Access
will continue to pursue this.
On Yemen
Inner City Press also asked if
the UK's findings as it looks
into more than 250 incidents
of the Saudi led coalition
will be shared with the
Security Council. It remains
unclear.
At the end,
Inner City Press asked Rycroft
if Nick Kay is still a
candidate to be UN Envoy to
Libya. Rycroft said the UK
supports current envoy Martin
Kobler but if he is to be
changed, it should be fast,
there is momentum.
Rycroft
said that civil society will
be invited to participate in
the month's wrap up session, a
first. Boris Johnson will
chair the March 23 meeting on
South Sudan, and something on
Somalia later that day. We'll
have more on this.
***
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