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UN Council Shouldn't Bypass South Sudan, Qazi Cables, Somalia
Answers Needed
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
May 29 -- The UN Security Council's ten-day trip through
Africa, even before it begins, has its first controversy. Juba in
Southern
Sudan was initially on the program. Then the stop was seemingly
cancelled, just as
South African Ambassador Kumalo's initial desire to go to Mogadishu or
Baidoa
in Somalia was vetoed by the UN's Department of Safety and Security. Special Representative of the Secretary
General Qazi prepared a cable to the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations
in New York, sources tell Inner City Press, protesting that if the
Council canceled its trip to Juba, and
visited only North Sudan, with stops in Khartoum and Darfur, it would
send a
message of neglect and disinterest to South Sudan and the Comprehensive
Peace
Agreement. While some say the Council is trying to convince South Sudan
president Salva Kiir to travel north to meet them in Khartoum, when
Inner City Press asked Ambassador Kumalo at 10 a.m. Thursday if Juba
remains on the schedule, he said yes. We'll see.
UK Ambassador
John Sawers, for his part, will be asked about a documentary aired on
Britain's Channel 4,
showing that some involved in abuses in Somalia do so while living (and
getting
livers) in the UK. Click here
for text, and here
for video, and watch this space for responses as
they are obtained.
Ashraf Qazi flying to South Sudan, Security
Council trip not shown
If these
journalists could report from Mogadishu, how can
the Council not go? Here as provided by an Inner City Press source is
the UN Security Department threat assessment,
leading up to their most dangerous, Phase V:
Phase
III: in the Awdal, Togdheer, and Galbeed Regions in Somaliland.
Phase
IV: in Puntland, Sanaag and Sool Regions in Somaliand, and the
remainder of
South/Central Somalia with the exception of the areas listed under
Phase Five.
Phase
V: is in effect in Mogadishu and the district of Badhade.
And so the
Security Council will not visit Somalia, but instead head to the talks
in
Djibouti, from which we will report. Watch this site.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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