Sudan says cancelling meetings with UNSC ’intentional’
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May 24, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese official acknowledged that the
government deliberately cancelled planned meetings of 2nd VP Ali Osman
Taha and foreign minister Ali Karti with the delegation of the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) that was visiting the country.
JPEG - 35.2 kb
Susan Rice (R), U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaks next to
Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin during a news conference
at the United Nations Missions in Sudan (UNMIS) headquarters in Juba,
in South Sudan May 24, 2011 (Reuters)
At the time, Khartoum attributed Karti’s absence to a sudden illness
but did not provide a similar explanation to scrapping the meeting
with Taha.
The official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in charge of
Abyei dossier al-Dirdiri Mohammed Ahmed said this move was meant to
send a message to the UNSC but did not elaborate.
"Messages are given and read," he said. He also downplayed US threats
about the halt to normalizing ties unless North withdraws from Abyei
saying that Khartoum "had enough of this talk".
UNSC arrived last weekend as the Sudan Armed Forces entered the
North-South border region of Abyei and asserted control over it. The
Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) withdrew down south as the SAF
advanced.
Khartoum justified the action saying it was in retaliation to an
ambush it near Abyei blamed on the SPLA. The SAF convoy that came
under attack was escorted by peacekeepers from the United Nations
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
Initially the Sudanese government said 22 soldiers were killed and
dozens have gone missing in the aftermath of the attack. On Tuesday,
the Sudanese ambassador to Kenya Kamal Ismail Saeed said today that
197 northern troops were killed or are missing.
But the United Nations later said that the actual figures are "much smaller".
Yesterday the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir vowed not to
pull out from Abyei stressing the area belongs to the North despite
calls by Western countries and UNSC for an immediate withdrawal.
Other officials suggested that they would leave the region if security
arrangements are reached such as having UNMIS patrol the region on an
exclusive basis.
This week the United Nations said that widespread looting and burning
have taken place in Abyei following SAF takeover.
UN and aid agencies said up to 40,000 had now been forced to leave
their homes and were moving deeper into south Sudan.
The UN spokeswoman Hua Jiang said today that Arab Misseriya militias
started pushing further south after people left the region’s main
settlement Abyei town.
"There are reports that they are moving south," she said.
She also said that 14 rounds were fired when the United Nations
helicopters took off from a U.N. compound in Abyei town today but they
landed safely. Jiang blamed it on the Misseriya.
A monitoring group said on Wednesday that satellite images indicate
evidence of "war crimes" committed by SAF in Abyei.
"These images provide supporting documentary evidence of war crimes
and crimes against humanity in Abyei," said John Bradshaw, director of
the Enough Project campaign group, part of the coalition backing the
satellite work.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) promised Abyei residents
a referendum over whether to join north or south, but that did not
take place as neither could agree on whether members of the
north-associated cattle-herding tribe of Misseriya should be allowed
to vote alongside the south-linked tribe of Dinka Ngok.
The South already voted last January in a separate referendum in favor
of secession which will become official next July.
In a related issue the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon proposed a new
peacekeeping force of some 7,000 blue-helmeted troops for south Sudan
once it secedes.
UNMIS mandate is due to expire next July and Khartoum made it clear
that it want the peacekeeping mission which has presence all over the
country to leave by then.
Diplomats and U.N. officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity
that Khartoum does not want UNMIS to leave Sudan altogether though the
Sudanese government would prefer that it be less visible in Khartoum.
Ban’s report said the new force should be called the United Nations
Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS.
The proposed new force will have to be approved by the UNSC.
(ST)
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