As
UN
Has Nothing on
New Sudan
Fighting, IMF
Welcomes S.
Sudan
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 18,
updated 4:28
pm -- As at
least 22 more
Sudanese and
South Sudanese
soldiers were
killed by what
the two sides
call the Bahr
al-Arab or
Kiir River,
respectively,
the UN in New
York had
nothing to say
about the
fighting,
despite having
a
"peacekeeping"
mission in
South Sudan.
Meanwhile
the
International
Monetary Fund
held a
ceremony to
welcome South
Sudan as its
188th member,
with an
initial IMF
quota of
$189.3
million.
Only yesterday
South Sudan's
representative
Agnes Oswaha
told Inner
City Press her country
had offered to
help Khartoum
with the IMF,
for debt
reduction
that has yet
to take place
despite the
loss of oil
revenue first
to
independence,
now to the
occupation of
the Heglig oil
fields.
UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
been away in
Europe; his
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey at
Wednesday's
eight minute
long noon
briefing
took only four
question, none
on Sudan or
even Mali,
where the
military junta
arrested two
more civilian
politicians.
Ban
was supposedly
"closely
watching"
coups in
Guinea Bissau
as in Mali --
but before, he
sent his envoy
Oscar
Fernandez
Taranco to
essentially
give his
blessing to
the coup in
the Maldives.
So who
is watching
whom?
The four
questions put
to Del Buey
concerned
Alexander
Downer's
recommendations
to Ban on
Cyprus
(virtually no
answer, Ban
won't speak to
press), Egypt
barring
multiple
candidates
based on their
parentage (no
real comment
despite Ban
"closely
watching North
Africa"), Iran
and Syria.
On Syria,
questions will
be answered by
previously top
UN Peacekeeper
Jean Marie
Guehenno and
not the
current one,
Herve "The
Drone"
Ladsous. Why?
Inner
City Press has
submitted to
Del Buey and
Ban Ki-moon's
main spokesman
Martin Nesirky
three question
and will
report the
answers as
they are
received. Watch
this site.
Update
of 4:28 pm -
Four hours
after
publication of
the above,
this was
e-mailed out:
Statement
Attributable
to the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary-General
on Mali
The
Secretary-General
expresses his
concern over
the renewed
wave of
arrests of
high ranking
public
officials in
Mali at a time
when numerous
efforts are
being
undertaken to
assist the
country in
overcoming the
various
challenges it
is
facing.
The
Secretary-General
calls for the
immediate
release of all
those arrested
and urges the
junta to
refrain from
any further
actions that
might
undermine the
effective
restoration of
constitutional
rule in the
country.
These arrests
are in
contrast to
other welcome
developments
that
constitute
important
steps towards
the full
return to
constitutional
order, such as
the
appointment of
Mr. Dioncounda
Traoré
as interim
President of
Mali and his
decision to
nominate Mr.
Cheick Modibo
Diarra as the
interim Prime
Minister.
The
Secretary-General
calls for the
military junta
to promptly
complete the
full transfer
of power to
civilian rule.
, 
