At
UN, Darfur
Forgotten, 2
Areas
UNserved,
Eliasson
Explains, Rice
Says On It
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 2 --
Amid UN self
congratulation
about the
agreements
between Sudan
and South
Sudan
announced last
week in Addis
Ababa, almost
nothing was
heard during
the General
Debate about
Darfur, where
the UN has a
$1 billion
peacekeeping
mission,
UNAMID.
In a
Tuesday UN
press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
new Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson about
this omission,
and also
whether any
progress has
been made on
getting aid
into the Two
Areas,
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile.
Earlier in
front of the
Security
Council, Inner
City Press
asked US
Permanent
Representative
Susan Rice
about the Two
Areas as well
as Abyei.
Ambassador
Rice
replied that
as before, the
African Union
High level
Implementation
Panel and the
UN's Haile
Menkerios
"will keep
working" on
Abyei; she
added,
seemingly
referring to
the Security
Council,
"we're going
to stay on top
of it, the Two
Areas as
well."
Eliasson,
who
as Inner City
Press noted
previously
served as UN
envoy on
Darfur, began
by admitting
that
humanitarian
aid has still
not reached
the Two Areas,
despite
previous
statements.
We're having a
hard time
"implementing"
it, he said,
citing
continued
fighting and
danger:
"we
thought we had
it all ready,
but it has now
turned out to
be great
problems of
implementation.
There are
evidently
problems of
fighting going
on and unrest
in that whole
area."
Cynically
or
not, Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman told
Inner City
Press that his
country puts
the blame on
the UN for not
showing up at
the Tripartite
meetings in
Khartoum, and
says he wrote
a letter to
this effect to
the UN. We
will continue
on this.
On
Darfur to
which he used
to be the UN
envoy,
Eliasson
admitted that
the problems
are not solved
there but it
is receiving
less and less
focus:
"As
to Darfur, you
are right –
it’s not in
the limelight.
I don’t think
it was
mentioned in
many of the
speeches, if
any. So it
turns out, it
seems that the
issue is not
in the highest
attention of
Member States,
and some of
the issues
certainly are
not solved. We
may have a
lower level of
violence than
when I was
mediating or
before that,
but the
outstanding
issues are
still there."
Yes,
Darfur is
receiving less
and less focus
and one
wonders: isn't
that in part
the UN's
fault?
For
the General
Debate week,
doesn't the UN
Secretariat
choose some
issues it is
going to push?
Member states
were going to
push Syria.
Shouldn't the
UN speak at
least about
the areas
where it has
peacekeeping
mission?
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous openly
refuses to
answer any
Press
questions,
because of
coverage he
hasn't liked.
One might
reply, do a
better job.
But what about
the claimed
support other
UN officials
and oratory
in the General
Debate for
freedom of the
press?
Watch this
site.
Here
is the UN's
transcript of
DSG Eliasson:
Inner
City Press:
You mentioned
the
Sudan/South
Sudan meeting.
I wanted to
know, one
aspect of that
is this thing
of the two
areas – South
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
State. One,
does the
Secretariat
have any idea
when aid will
actually reach
those areas?
And also
another issue
on Sudan is
Darfur – I
know that you
were the
Special Envoy
in a previous
incarnation on
that issue.
Did it come up
in the
meetings? Is
it as central
as it once was
to the
Secretary-General
and to
yourself, and
how do you see
that issue
progressing or
not
progressing?
DSG:
Aid to South
Kordofan and
Blue Nile has
been up for a
long time. I
brought it up
already in
Addis Ababa
with both
sides,
particularly,
of course, the
Government of
Sudan. There
was in
principle an
agreement with
the African
Union, League
of Arab States
and UN to open
up access, and
we thought we
had it all
ready, but it
has now turned
out to be
great problems
of
implementation.
There are
evidently
problems of
fighting going
on and unrest
in that whole
area. I met
the High
Commissioner
for Refugees
some time ago
and he talked
about the
refugee flow
into Ethiopia
which was
caused not so
much by
starvation,
but actually
by warfare, by
bombings. So
the situation
in that area
is in flux and
possibly of a
dangerous
nature. But we
have a
humanitarian
situation
which has to
be dealt with,
where there
are refugees
also in South
Sudan from
that area. So
we need to
have access
and we
continue to
push for this,
and
[Under-Secretary-General
for
Humanitarian
Affairs and
Emergency
Relief
Coordinator]
Valerie Amos
is giving this
issue high
priority.
As
to Darfur, you
are right –
it’s not in
the limelight.
I don’t think
it was
mentioned in
many of the
speeches, if
any. So it
turns out, it
seems that the
issue is not
in the highest
attention of
Member States,
and some of
the issues
certainly are
not solved. We
may have a
lower level of
violence than
when I was
mediating or
before that,
but the
outstanding
issues are
still there,
but perhaps
not of the
same nature
that catches
attention like
the South
Sudan/Sudan
situation and
Blue Nile and
Kordofan.
, 
