On
Abyei, Rice
Tells ICP to
Call
"Misseriya the
Majority" Is a
Joke
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 22 --
In Abyei, are
the Misseriya
or the Dinka
in the
majority? The
question has
arisen as
Sudan and
South Sudan
negotiate
about the
composition of
the Abyei Area
Council.
On January 22,
Inner City
Press asked
the Permanent
Representatives
of South Sudan
and of Sudan,
then Susan
Rice of the
United States,
about it.
Susan
Rice was most
direct. "To
call the
Misseriya the
majority is a
joke," Rice
exclusively
told Inner
City Press.
South
Sudan's
Francis Deng,
previously the
UN Special
Adviser on the
Prevention of
Genocide,
objected to
Sudan asking
for fifty -
fifty
representation.
Sudan's
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman told
Inner City
Press this
would be more
than fair,
since "the
Dinka are the
minority in
Abyei."
He said there
were two times
as many
Misseriya
there as
Dinka. This is
what
Ambassador
Rice, after
declining the
question at
the on-camera
stakeout
because she
hadn't heard
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman speak,
called "a
joke" two
hours later to
Inner City
Press.
Afterward,
another
Security
Council
diplomat whom
Inner City
Press asked
about it
offered a
compromise:
"it depends on
the season."
Inner City
Press also
asked both
Deng and Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman about
South Sudan's
shooting down
of a Russian
helicopter
serving
UNMISS. Deng
said the
investigation
is underway.
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman quoted
Russia,
unhappy with
the delay. Security
Council
President
Masood Khan
told Inner
City Press
that the whole
Council wants
a prompt
investigation.
Footnote:
there were
rumblings,
about a
Southern
Kordofan
delegation
coming to the
UN. Watch
this site.
, 
