At
UN, Bragging
of Sudans Deal
But Abyei
Unresolved and
Little on
Darfur
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27
-- A
high-level
meeting on the
Sudans was
convened at
the UN
Thursday
afternoon,
less than a
day after
Presidents
Omar al Bashir
and Salva Kiir
reached
agreements in
Addis
Ababa. It
seemed there
would be
drama, and so
when
"interested
media" were
summoned to
cross the
barricades and
go into the
meeting, Inner
City Press
went.
Conference
Room
3 was less
than half
full. Sudan
was
represented by
Foreign
Minister Ali
Karti, with
whom Inner
City Press
spoke earlier
in the
week. A member
of his
delegation
conceded to
Inner City
Press that
"Abyei is not
yet agreed,"
but predicted
it would soon
be.
Another
African
Union source
came over and
told Inner
City Press
"it'll
have to be
decided by the
PSC," the
Peace and
Security
Council
of the AU.
On
a television
screen in the
front of the
room, a major
player seemed
to be missing:
Thabo Mbeki,
the head of
the High Level
Implementation
Panel. "He's
delegated it,"
a Security
Council member
told
Inner City
Press.
Earlier
in
the day on
another
unresolved
Sudan
conflict,
Darfur, the UN
told
Inner City
Press a day
after it asked
that
"UNAMID
was
prevented by
Government
security
authorities
from access to
the
Kushina area
(approximately
20 km
south-east of
Tawilla, North
Darfur) to
verify reports
of fighting
between
Government and
movement
forces. UNAMID
peacekeepers
are continuing
to endeavour
to gain
access to the
area. The
Mission is
calling on
Government
officials at
all levels to
allow its
personnel
unrestricted
freedom of
movement
throughout
Darfur."
But
this does not
seem to be
repeated, at
least now, at
the top levels
at
the General
Debate.
From
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
team, there
was the head
of the
Department of
Field Support
Amira Haq, and
off to the
side her
deputy
Tony Banbury.
Her
predecessor
Susana
Malcorra was
in the front,
now
Ban's chief of
staff. There
was
speechwriter
Michael Meyer
and former
deputy chief
of staff, now
"Change
Management"
tzar Kim
Won-soo,
working the
crowd.
Norway's
foreign
minister came
in, with his
Permanent
Representative
and able,
Sudan-focused
staff. That
Norwegian
Hilde Johnson
heads the UN's
mission in
South Sudan
gives the
country an
additional
"dog in
the hunt," as
the Clintonian
colloquialism
has it.
Hillary
Clinton
is in town,
but not
present at
this meeting,
just as she
was
not at the
meeting with
Ban of the
other foreign
ministers of
the
Permanent Five
members of the
Security
Council. That
was handled by
Susan Rice,
who was not
present at the
beginning of
the Sudans
meeting.
In
fairness, in
the hall
outside was a
Rwandan
delegation,
and Inner
City Press
surmises that
Rice was
meeting with
that country's
foreign
minister. (The
Mission would
not confirm
this, but
indicted that
Rice
would
participate in
the later
stages of the
Sudans
meeting).
Ban
Ki-moon
arrived,
shaking hands
all around,
then delivered
his
upteenth
speech of the
day. This was
followed by
the AU's
outgoing
Jean Ping, who
noted his
successor --
painfully, one
imagines,
given
the hard
two-round
electoral
campaign
between them.
Then
the UN's top
Peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous
said, we will
wait for the
press to be
escorted from
the room. As
noted, Ladsous
has since May
repeatedly
refused to
answer any
questions from
Inner City
Press.
Somehow,
despite the
UN, the news
continues to
be reported --
but it
is too often
"despite the
UN." Watch
this site.
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