Rice
Critical of
Sudan Aid
Delay &
Oil Deal
Linkage, No
Push for Aid
from South
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 --
In Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile,
humanitarian
aid has yet to
be delivered.
After the UN
Security
Council
receivedyet
another
briefing
Thursday
morning by
envoy Haile
Menkerios,
Inner City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Rice about
Sudan's
position that
aid cannot be
delivered by
air, much less
from
neighboring
South Sudan.
Ambassador
Rice
said that this
must be
resolved
closer to the
source, not
here
from New York,
but that the
key is
access.
Transcript,
and that of
German PR
Wittig, below.
She
said the the
best way
to deliver aid
varies by
season. She
also
criticized
Sudan for
saying
that its oil
agreement with
South Sudan
will not be
implemented
until
all other
issues,
including
Abyei, are
resolved.
The
day previous,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN
spokesman what
OCHA is
doing in the
Two Areas:
Inner
City Press: In
Sudan, there
is that
tripartite
agreement to
deliver
humanitarian
aid to
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile;
seems like
it’s
been delayed.
And now, Sudan
has said it’s
absolutely
opposed to
delivering aid
through South
Sudan or by
air. Since the
United
Nations is
obviously
involved in
this and has
been reporting
on the
needs there,
what’s its
response to
that? How do
they think the
aid should
be... is that
a sufficient
response by
Sudan and what
should be
done?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I will check
with the
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs.
Some
four hours
later, the
following
answer
arrived:
Subject:
Your
question on
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Sep
5, 2012 at
4:53 PM
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
question on
humanitarian
aid, OCHA says
that it has
requested
the Government
of Sudan to
allow aid to
go through
Sudan itself
to
affected
communities in
South Kordofan
and Blue Nile.
As
with certain
other recent
UN answers, it
is not
entirely clear
what
this means.
But given the
question
asked, it
seems to mean
that the
UN has not
even asked
that aid be
allowed in
from South
Sudan, where
the UN has a
large
peacekeeping
mission.
Perhaps that
is realistic.
But if the UN
doesn't even
ask....
Watch
this site.
Transcripts:
US Mission
Inner
City Press: On
the Two Areas,
if you don't
mind. Sudan
has said that
it's against
any delivery
of aid by
air-that it
says
everything
must
be by land
through El
Obeid. It's
obviously
against any
delivery from
the South.
Does the U.S.
think it
should be-is
there some
kind
of-do you
agree with
those two
positions that
they have?
Ambassador
Rice:
I think the
issue with
respect to the
Two Areas
remains the
same. The
concern is
about
providing
adequate
access for
humanitarian
actors, and I
don't think
it's
worthwhile for
governments
sitting
back here
speaking from
New York to
get into the
fine details
of how
that's best
implemented. I
think that's
an issue for
the
humanitarian
implementers,
the
humanitarian
actors working
with both the
SPLM-North and
the government
of Khartoum.
In different
seasons, the
most efficient
methods of
transmitting
and delivering
humanitarian
assistance may
vary, but I
think the
point is that
the access be
continuous and
unimpeded
rather than
for I or
others to get
into
proscribing
how it ought
to be effected
on the ground.
German
Mission:
[Inner
City Press Q.
on
humanitarian
situation in
the two areas]
Wittig:
"I
think there
was an
awareness that
this is an
acute crisis.
Mr. Menkerios
drove home the
message to us
and to the
parties that
all concerned
should not
view this
humanitarian
crisis in
terms of a
technical
process of
negotiation.
Everybody
wants the
tripartite
agreement to
be
implemented,
to be
accepted, but
what is needed
is
access to the
people in
need. There is
a general
awareness of
that
need - and
this was the
message of Mr.
Menkerios.
Thank you."
, 
