On
Sudan, Could an UNMIS “Wrap-Up” Resolution Provide S.
Kordofan Protection?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 8 -- As the UN Security Council adopted its
resolution
for 7000 peacekeeping troops in South Sudan, behind the scenes
negotiations continued to see if a separate resolution on the
dissolving UN Mission in Sudan was needed, and what it could
accomplish.
Sudan's
president
Omar al
Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court for
genocide in Darfur, has ordered the UN mission in North Sudan to
start winding down the moment South Sudan declares independence.
But
the political
coordinator of a BRICS country told Inner City Press that it is
possible that a “wind-up” resolution could provide for UN
peacekeepers staying in the violent border areas of South Kordofan
and Blue Nile at least while the mission is being wound up.
“That would
require the consent of Bashir,” a representative of a Permanent
member of the Council pointed out, adding that the UN Department of
Field Support and Office of Legal Affairs, headed by Patricia
O'Brien, had been asked to opine if a wind up resolution is needed.
The
spokesman of
another Permanent member said that negotiations were continuing, even
on the eve of South Sudan's independence, with Ban Ki-moon in
Khartoum, meeting with not with Bashir but foreign minister Ali
Karti.
“It would be a
good message to have such a resolution,” the representative said,
indicating the UN was not just getting thrown out. But isn't it?
Kiir & Bashir in Juba, new UN resolution & mission not yet seen
At
Friday's UN
noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's acting deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq about reports
that the Egyptian UN peacekeepers in Kadugli
in Southern Kordofan sat by while civilians were killed right outside
their gates, and that two Nuba UN local staff were killed.
Haq
denied the later, and pointed to earlier statements on the former.
Inner City Press is still waiting for a response from UNMIS promised
earlier in the week. Better hurry up: for now, UNMIS is over on July
9. Watch this site -- and this, Inner
City Press July 7 debate on BloggingHeads.tv about Sudan.
* * *
On
S.
Sudan
Resolution, UN Role on Borders of Blue Nile & Kordofan
Unclear, Troop Numbers Game
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
6, updated -- With the countdown to South Sudan's formal
declaration of independence on July 9 begun, at the UN in New York on
Wednesday negotiations on the resolution for
a new peacekeeping
mission went into overtime.
A
Deputy Permanent
Representative emerged from the Security Council chamber and told
Inner City Press that while the size of the mission will be
reconsidered after three or six months, a sticking point is whether
and how the disputed borders in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states
will be monitored.
“If the North
does not agree,” the DPR told Inner City Press, “there can't be
any UN peacekeepers there.”
Khartoum
has
agreed
to Ethiopian troops in Abyei, but has stepped away from a deal
about South Kordofan. When Inner City Press asked the UN earlier on
Wednesday to confirm troops build ups in South Kordofan, the response
was a reiteration of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for freedom
of movement. Does that mean the UN doesn't have freedom of movement?
Yes, was the answer. Video here,
from
Minute 47:30.
Questions
posed
to
the UN in New York on July 5 were then e-mailed to UNMIS in Sudan,
but have yet to be answered. A delegation from the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations came out of the Security Council at 5 pm on
Wednesday. Referring to the number of troops proposed, Inner City
Press asked, “Seven thousand?” A UN military official laughed; a
civilian official said “DPKO has no comment.”
[See update below:
UK says between six and seven thousand.]
On
the numbers, a
Permanent Representative inside the negotiations told Inner City
Press that DPKO while asking for 7000 also refers to a 5400 figure.
We'll have more on this.
Footnote:
as
the
above was finished, the Obama administration announced its
delegation to Juba, including Susan Rice, Colin Powell, Brooke
Anderson, Rep.
Donald
Payne,
Princeton Lyman, Donald Steinberg, Africom's
Carter F. Ham, and Johnnie Carson. “Johnny Carson?” a US
official asked. Not that Johnny Carson...
Update
of
7:35
pm -- among Western P-5 Permanent Representative, the UK's
Mark Lyall Grant emerged and told Inner City Press, somewhere between
six and seven thousand. France's Gerard Araud said nothing. And
Susan Rice of the US... is still inside the Council, if the presence
of USUN body guards is any guide.
Update
of
8 pm -- the problem of adopting the resolution on Friday has
apparently been solved: the resolution will say that the mission is
created "upon" independence, and will be voted on Friday. The last of
the diplomats have left.
* * *
, 
in