Sudan
Blames UN Dues
& Voting
Spat on US as
Host Country,
Lack of NY
Bank Account
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 1 --
Amid reports
that Sudan is
again banned
from
voting in the
UN General
Assembly
because it's
behind on
paying dues,
Sudanese
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman on
January 31
proffered to
Inner City
Press a new
reason.
Because
Sudan
has had
difficulty
getting or
maintaining a
bank account
in New
York,
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman
exclusively
told Inner
City Press,
the country
convinced the
UN to accept
dues payments
through the UN
Resident
Coordinator in
Khartoum. He
said the
payments were
being
made, but
there were
logistical
problems.
Previously
on
January 4,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN if
Sudan was
behind on
dues, and if
it was now
banned from
voting under
Article 19.
Late
that afternoon
the UN told
Inner City
Press
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Fri, Jan
4, 2013
at 4:21 PM
Subject: Re:
Question on
Sudan
To: Matthew
Russell
Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
On
arrears: At
the start of
2012, Sudan
was in arrears
under the
terms
of Article 19
of the Charter
(loss of vote
in the General
Assembly).
However,
sufficient
payment was
made in 2012
to take Sudan
out of
Article 19. As
of 4 January
2013, Sudan
has arrears
(amounts due
for
2012 and
previous
years) of
approximately
$1 million.
That's
what
the UN said on
January 4 --
but later in
the month it
was
reported that
Sudan was
again banned
from voting.
Inner City
Press
has previously
reported on
the difficulty
of some
countries in
opening bank
accounts for
the UN
Missions in
New York, in
contravention
of the Host
Country
Agreement
between the US
and the
UN.
The
UN, most
recently
through the
Controller,
has repeatedly
said it was
close to
solving this
issue. But at
least
according to
Sudan's
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman, the
problem has
not been
solved. Watch
this site.
, 
