Two
Weeks After
Mbeki, UN SC
Still Stalled
on Sudans,
Playground
Moves
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23 --
Two full weeks
after Thabo
Mbeki briefed
the UN
Security
Council about
Sudan and
South Sudan,
the Council
still
has not been
able to agree
on a
Presidential
Statement
about the
situation.
On
August 23, a
BRICS deputy
told Inner
City Press
that the
problem is
that one
member is
intent on
supporting
only one
side.
Another
scoffed that
the initial
draft was so
unbalanced, it
took two weeks
and "still
nothing." But
"don't forget
the holidays,"
another said,
in defense of
the delay.
Among
the disputes
is how to
characterize
aerial
bombardments,
and whether
the Statement
should
criticize
Khartoum for
not "accepting
Mbeki's map."
A Sudanese
representative
on August 16
told Inner
City Press
Sudan had four
supporters,
including
Azerbaijan,
and even that
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
this month's
Council
president, was
critical of
another
Permanent
member's
"playground"
approach.
Mid-day on
August 23,
Inner City
Press asked
Araud, what
about the
PRST, the
Presidential
Statement? He
said that some
members feel
it is taking
too long, and
that there
would be a
consultation
of Deputy
Permanent
Representatives
in the
afternoon.
The
playground
continues to
expanding,
both in space
and time.
At 3 pm on
August 23 they
filed in, the
DPRs of France
and Russia,
Morocco and
Pakistan, and
all the rest.
Past 4 pm, a
South Sudanese
representative
came out of
the quiet room
and predicted
to Inner City
Press, there
will not be
anything
today.
Others
said to be
hopeful; one
said, only a
PRST if it is
a good one.
There
is a
difference, it
is pointed
out, between
demilitarizing
a zone and
agreeing on a
final border.
On August 15
Security
Council
experts met on
the stalled
draft in the
Council's
consultation
room. On
August 16
experts
wandering the
North Lawn
told Inner
City Press
they were
still working
on it. Talks
were said to
be bilateral,
with the
expectation of
"coming back
together at a
higher level"
to make
decisions on
language still
left open.
And the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
level meeting
took a week to
set up?
Back
on August 16,
South African
Permanent
Representative
Baso Sangqu
told Inner
City Press, it
is important
that the
Council agree
on a statement
soon, so that
the parties
don't think
the Security
Council is
divided.
Well, the
Security
Council is
divided.
On
August 15 when
Inner City
Press asked
Araud about
Darfur, he
answered that
the Council IS
divided on
this issue,
as on Syria
and Israel -
Palestine.
Sudan / South
Sudan was
supposed to be
one of the
issues on
which the
Council works
together. So
what's
happening?
Meanwhile,
Japan's
Toyota Tsusho
Corporation
has put in a
$5 billion bid
to build an
oil pipeline
linking South
Sudan to the
proposed
Kenyan port of
Lamu, bragged
Dennis Awori,
Chairman of
Toyota Kenya
Limited.
When
Japan sent a
few people to
the UN Mission
in South Sudan
UNMISS, the UN
hyped it up
and media
covered it.
But this is a
more real and
telling
connection:
follow the
money. Watch
this site.
, 
