At
UN,
China
Trashes Sudan Sanctions Report & Blind Quotes, Budget
Cut Threatened
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October
20, updated with Q&A -- China in a rare public shoot-back at other
UN
Security Council members issued a statement Wednesday night disputing
the accuracy of the report of the Council's Sudan sanctions
committee, and implicitly threatening to cut the committee's funding.
The
spokesman for
China's Mission to the UN Liu Yutang e-mailed Inner City Press --
exclusively, he said -- a
statement at 9:47 pm (full statement below) that
“the Panel of
Experts uses a large amount
of budget and resources every year, it should improve its
performance... the so-called Security Council diplomat [quoted in
Reuters] was
even afraid of disclosing the name of his/her own country, which
clearly demonstrates that the diplomat has no confidence in what
he/she said and he/she is not credib1e... Such old-fashioned trick
only testifies to the stereotyped prejudice against the developing
countries.”
One
thing that is
true is that China rarely speaks out against other Council members,
even on background. On the Council's recent trip to Sudan, Inner City
Press asked China's Ambassador to the UN Li Baodong a number of
questions, and he never one said “off the record” or “on
background.”
In
the airport
in
Nairobi,
Li told Inner City Press that his country would be perfectly
willing to meet and speak with Sudanese President Omar al Bashir,
if
the other Council members agreed.
Li Baodong & other P-5 -- "Council diplomat" not shown
At
a South
Sudanese
police
training base in Rejaf, as US Ambassador Susan Rice
essentially rallied for Juba's independence with a tentful of police
recruits, Ambassador Li said softly that “it is very sensitive” --
but nevertheless never requested off the record
treatment, or
asked to be identified as a “Security Council” (or “Eastern”)
diplomat.
On
the other hand,
China has recently been further flexing it muscles, for example
against Norway for the Peace Prize decision of the Nobel Committee.
Does
Wednesday
night's statement indicate a Nobel-ization of Security Council debate
or merely a shot across the bow? Watch this site.
Footnote: one also
remembers, for example, that the Somalia Sanctions Committee alleged
there were hundreds of Somalia's in Lebanon, and then leaked a pro-UN
report, here.
These
committees should be more transparent, which ever way the cookie
(or bullets or referenda) crumble...
Full "Q&A" --
Q:
Reuters
reported that, according to a Security Council diplomat, the
latest report of the Panel of Experts on Sudan says a dozen brands of
bullet casings found at sites of attacks on U.N./African Union
peacekeepers in Darfur came from China, and that China has tried to
block its publication. Does the Chinese Mission have any comment?
Yutong
LIU,
Chief Press Officer Chinese Mission to the UN: “The latest
report of the Panel Of Experts on Sudan has serious drawbacks. A
number of references in the report are not based on facts and lack of
solid evidence. Some of the conc1usions of the report are vague and
unclear. Some are even based on the Panel’ s own conjecture and
presumption. This is not consistent with the requirements of the
Security Council that the Panel of Experts should carry out its work
in a responsible, objective, impartial and professiona1 manner. The
Panel of Experts uses a large amount of UN budget and resources every
year. It should improve its performance.
“China
takes a prudent and responsible attitude towards its arms export and
has always fulfilled its obligations under Security Council
resolutions. Around 800 Chinese peacekeepers are currently deployed
in Sudan. China attaches great importance to their safety and
security. What was said by the so-called Security Council diplomat as
quoted by the Reuters is not inline with the fact, illogical and
lacks common sense. The diplomat was even afraid of disclosing the
name of his/her own country, which clearly demonstrates that the
diplomat has no confidence in what he/she said and he/she is not
credible. I don’t want to presume who has provided the Reuters with
the above mentioned information. Such Old-fashioned trick only
testifies to the stereotyped prejudice against the developing
countries.”
* * *
South
Sudan
Accuses
Bashir
of
Arming LRA as Susan Rice Smiles, Others
Queasy
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
REJAF,
SOUTH
SUDAN,
October
7
-- A military band greeted Susan Rice and 13
other Security Council Ambassadors on Thursday morning at this police
training camp on the banks of the Nile River.
The
minister
of
internal
affairs of the Government of South Sudan, Gier Chuang Aluong,
gave a speech, in
which he accused the government of Omar al Bashir of supplying
ammunition not only to cattle rustlers but also the Lord's Resistance
Army.
Susan
Rice
did not
react to this accusation, rather smiling broadly as South Sudan
military figures praised her.
As
the Security
Council delegation took a tour of the facility, compete with mock
hijackings of VIPs in four by four vehicle, fought off by the just
trained police, Inner City Press asked another Council Ambassador if
he was comfortable with the tone of the visit to Rejaf, sometimes
called and spelled Rajaf.
“It's a very
sensitive situation,” he said, going on to wonder what the
government of Sudan in Khartoum would think of this show of readiness
for
independence and with what some call its Susan Rice “cult of
personality”
aspect. Others say it is merely Susan showing her passion.
Still,
the
mood
was hopeful, with young South Sudanese singing and marching around in
robo-cop crowd control outfits complete with thigh and shin armor.
Inner City Press interviewed a number of the trainees, who said they
are only paid from time to time and have no toilets, having to “use
the bush.”
A
speech to the
Council members asked for $50 million to take the training facility
to the next stage. Afterward an Ambassador joked to Inner City Press,
“Did they expect us to take out our checkbooks?”
Susan Rice & SSudan minister, status neutral
&
$50 million not shown, (c) MRLee
One
Permanent
Representative
was conspicuously absent: Russia's Vitaly Churkin. It
led one to wonder how such a Council Mission to Kosovo would have
looked, while UNMIK was running it, before the unilateral declaration
of independence. There, the UN's watchword was “status neutral.”
Was that only because Serbia had Russia taking its side in the
Council? Watch this site.
Footnote:
the
last
leg
of
the Susan Rice portion of the trip, a visit to Wau,
was canceled when the UN plane, run by Swift Air, broke down on the
Juba tarmac. The entire delegation moved to the Russian base of
UNMIS. Things started friendly, but then a Russian commander ordered
the Press to stop using the Internet.
, 
