Rice
Calls Sudan
Speech
Perjury
on Visas &
Bombings, UN
Blocked by S.
Sudan?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 17 --
With Sudan
Sanctions the
topic of the
UN
Security
Council on
Friday
morning, a
simple vote on
the US-drafted
resolution was
expected. But
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman asked to
speak after
the 15 - 0.
He
took issue
with
a paragraph
about bombings
-- apparently
that's more in
South Kordofan
and Blue Nile
than in
Darfur.
Then Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman
repeated
publicly what
he'd
said
exclusively
toInner City
Press earlier
in the month:
that he was
told yesterday
by a member of
the UN panel
on Darfur
sanctions that
when the
member asked
for access to
South Sudan to
check on
Khartoum's
allegation
that the
Justice and
Equality
Movement
rebels
had entered
South Sudan
with weapons
from the
collapsed
Gaddafi
government of
Libya, "the
government of
South Sudan
blocked me
and didn't
give me
access."
The
location was
later
specified as
Tumsaha.
(For
that story,
David Choat
challenged
Daffa alla to
name which
South Sudan
ministry
or minister
had denied
access.)
On
Friday when US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
came out of
the Security
Council, Inner
City
Press began to
ask her a
question. She
said, let me
say something
first - and
said, there
should be
penalties for
perjury in the
Security
Council.
Inner
City Press
asked if she
meant his
allegations
about the
monitor being
blocked by
South Sudan
from going to
Tumsaha. Rice
replied, the
visas, the
bombings.
Moments
later at
the UN
Television
stakeout,
Inner City
Press conveyed
this view to
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman - the
bombings,
visa. He
paused and
then
said, I will
give you the
name of the
monitor who
was blocked:
he is
British and
his name is
Mister Bryan.
Inner City
Press later
asked,
first or last
name, but
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman said,
you find
out. A western
member of the
Council said
he was sure it
would be
check. But
will it?
Inner
City Press
asked asked
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman about
blocking South
Sudanese
losing their
jobs in North
Sudan and
being blocked
even from
traveling to
the South by
barge on the
White Nile.
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman said
Sudan had
"hosted" its
"brothers"
from the
South, but
that the
government of
South Sudan
isn't doing
what it should
to help them.
Inner City
Press has
asked the UN
to
comment on
this for days,
with no
response.
At
issue Friday
seemed to be
that while
Sudan
continues
blasting away
in Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile, its
strategy in
Darfur has led
to JEM's
Khalil Ibrahim
dead, and
people in IDP
camps -- some
call it the
"Sri
Lanka
strategy,"
which was the
subject of
Inner City
Press'
questioning
Friday and
will be
addressed in
the next
article -
watch
this site.
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