As
Sudan
Breaks Abyei
Agreement,
Susan Rice
Says Obama
Will Meet With
Kiir,
Focus Lost?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 16
-- When
President
Obama came to
the UN a year
ago, the
meeting on
Sudan was a
focus. This
year the
stated focus
is
Libya, with
elephant in
the room in
Palestine and
a possible US
veto
of UN
membership.
But is Sudan
in better
shape?
Inner
City Press
on Friday
asked Susan
Rice if Obama
"that things
are better
there than
they were last
year?" Rice
expressed
concern, then
said Obama
will meet with
the president
of South Sudan
Salva Kiir.
It's sure to
be a feel-good
moment, but
what about
Sudan proper?
Amid
bombing in
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
state,
even the
supposed good
new in
Abyei has
fallen apart,
with Khartoum
negotiator
Omar Suleiman
saying
that contrary
to UN claims
his country
has not agreed
to pull out of
Abyei by
September 30.
Inner
City Press
asked Rice and
the UN about
this. The UN
provided Inner
City Press
with a
copy of the
agreement,
here.
Earlier on
Friday,
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
that the
Sudanese Armed
Forces will
only leave
once the
UNIFSA mission
is fully
deployed,
which the UN
denied.
Rice
when asked
hearkened back
to the
underlying
June 2011
agreement and
advised
Sudan to
comply. But
what's the
leverage,
especially if
Obama's
focus has
moved on?
Obama
previously at
UN with
Gaddafi ally
Treki, plus ca
change
From
the US Mission
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: On
Sudan, I
wanted to ask
you this. That
beyond just
the
fighting and
bombing in
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile,
there was an
agreement that
was announced
by the UN in
Abyei that
Khartoum and
Juba would
both pull out,
even before
the UNISFA
mission was
fully
implemented.
And now
Khartoum has
said that
that's not
true-they
didn't agree
to that, that
the UN
misspoke. I
wanted to know
what's
your
understanding
of when they
committed to
pull out. And,
two,
what-in
President
Obama's
bilateral,
what's the
place of
Sudan. I
mean last year
it was quite
high profile
on his visit.
Does it remain
that? Does he
think that
things are
better there
than they were
last
year? And
what's he
going to be
doing here
while he's
here on Sudan?
Ambassador
Rice:
Well, with
respect to the
redeployment
of forces from
the Abyei
area, the two
sides signed
an agreement
and made a
commitment to
withdraw those
forces, in
fact, earlier
in the process
than we are
today, and
certainly long
before the
full
deployment of
UNISFA.
So
we
think that
redeployment
is overdue and
needs to be
accomplished
urgently. And
any suggestion
that that
wasn't in fact
the agreement
is belied by
the document
that both
parties
signed.
Obviously, the
United States
remains very
interested in,
very committed
to peace and
security in
Sudan, both
the Republic
of Sudan and
the Republic
of
South Sudan,
and we're
frankly quite
concerned that
many of the
critical
issues that
need to be
resolved
between North
and South
remain
unresolved.
Many of the
crucial
aspects of the
Comprehensive
Peace
Agreement
remain
unresolved and
unimplemented
and that, in
and
of itself, has
the potential
to be a spark
that could
ignite
underlying
tensions.
We're
also
very, very
concerned by
what is
transpiring in
Southern
Kordofan
and Blue Nile,
where aerial
bombardments,
attacks on
civilians and
humanitarian
crisis is
continuing and
intensifying.
So that also
is
of concern,
and, of
course, we
remain very
much focused
on what is
transpiring in
Darfur.
So
there's
no diminution
in the U.S.
government's
focus on, or
commitment to
what
transpires in
Sudan. And as
was mentioned
today at
the White
House,
President
Obama will
have the
opportunity to
meet
briefly with
President
Salva Kiir of
South Sudan
during the
United
Nations
General
Assembly.
, 
in