As
Rice
Says S. Sudan
"Needs to Go"
from Heglig,
Wonder at
SPLA's Weapons
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 13 --
The day after
South Sudan's
Ambassador
Agnes
Oswaha told
Inner City
Press that
her country's
army would
only leave
the town of
Heglig if and
when neutral
monitors
arrived,
the UN told
Inner City
Press that there
are no plans
to send such
monitors.
But
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, while
"deploring"
North
Korea's
defiance of
the
international
community,
remained merely
"alarmed"
by South
Sudan's
defiance.
Inner
City Press
on Friday
evening as the
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria ended
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about South
Sudan's
refusal to
leave
Heglig.
Ambassador
Rice replied,
as immediately
half picked up
by others,
"That is not
good. They
need to go."
But
minutes later
at the
now-empty
Council
stakeout,
African
diplomats
marveled at
the
"new weapons"
South Sudan is
using in
Heglig. "We've
never seen
anything like
it, in the
decades of
conflict
between North
and South
Sudan. And
it's not
Gaddafi stuff,
that was
outdated. This
is brand new.
Where do you
think they're
getting it
from?"
Where
indeed.
Click
here
for "Making of
the Stakeout"
video on Inner
City Press's
YouTube
channel.
From
the UN's
April
13 noon
briefing
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you about
South Sudan.
Yesterday, it
was said that
the
Secretary-General
had asked
South Sudan to
pull out
of Heglig. The
statement that
was made at
the stakeout
late
yesterday
afternoon by
the ambassador
of South Sudan
that they are
not leaving;
they said that
they will only
leave if there
are neutral
peacekeepers
or monitors
sent in. So
one, I wanted
to know if
there
is any move by
the UN to
respond to
that
statement, to
actually send
anyone there
to try to
monitor, and
also whether
the
Secretary-General
has any
comment on
what seems to
some to be a
rebuffing of
the call of
the
international
community,
including the
African Union,
European
Union,
Security
Council, by
South Sudan in
not leaving
Heglig.
Spokesperson:
Well, I think
you put your
finger on it,
Matthew. The
international
community is
rather clear
about what
needs to
happen both
with
regards to
Sudan and
South Sudan.
The Council’s
presidential
statement said
the Security
Council
demands a
complete,
immediate and
unconditional
end to all
fighting,
withdrawal of
the SPLA from
Heglig
and to SAF
aerial
bombardments,
and to
repeated
incidents of
cross-border
violence
between Sudan
and South
Sudan, and an
end to
support by
both sides to
proxies in the
other country.
So, “demands”.
And the
Secretary-General
himself, in
his statement,
said he was
alarmed at the
escalation of
fighting and
he called on
both parties
immediately to
cease
hostilities,
remove their
forces from
each
other’s
territory and
avoid further
bloodshed. And
he also
underlined the
necessity that
both
Governments
respect the
territorial
integrity of
the other, and
ensure their
own
territories
are not used
to provide
support for
rebel groups.
So this is the
Security
Council and
the
Secretary-General
speaking very
much in the
same line,
very similar
language, and
as you
mentioned,
other
sections of
the
international
community, as
well. And
crucially, it
would be for
the Security
Council to
address any
further action
of
the kind that
you have
referred to.
It is very
clear what the
international
community
expects both
parties to do.
Inner
City
Press: just to
put a point on
it, my
question is,
the statement
that you are
giving for the
Secretary-General
he said it
before South
Sudan said
openly “we are
not leaving”,
which they
said yesterday
afternoon at
about 5 p.m.
Spokesperson:
Well, it
doesn’t
change, that
doesn’t change
what the
Secretary-General
believes.
Inner
City
Press: my
question is,
you just read
out a
statement in
which
the
Secretary-General
deplored a
country for
disrespecting
the
international
community. I
wanted to know
what, what is
the
appropriate
adjective?
What is his
response to
South Sudan’s
response to
the call of
the four
parties that
we’ve
mentioned?
Spokesperson:
He is alarmed
by the
escalation.
Some
wonder, why no
deploring? And
where do those
weapons come
from? Watch
this site.
, 
