UN
Has Nothing on
New Sudan
Fighting, As
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:
Any
Ban Ki-moon
response to or
comment on the
Mali junta
arresting the
Democratic
Alliance of
Mali's Kassoum
Tapo and
Tieman
Coulibaly of
the Democracy
and
Development
Union?
What
is
the UN's /
UNMISS'
knowledge of
and comment on
the deadly
fighting
between South
Sudan and
Sudan by the
Kiir / Bahr
al-Arab river,
near
Mairem?
On
safety, is the
UN Medical
service
physical
present with
an office in
the
Secretariat /
General
Assembly
building and
if not, why
not? And,
does the UN
Medical
Service cover
contractors
who work in
the UN,
like the audio
technician who
apparently had
a seizure on
April 16,
Aramark, etc?
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.
, 
