At
UN, Sudans
Statement Gets
"Balanced,"
Khartoum Drops
Oil Fee
to $32 and
Drops Bombs,
Juba Says
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 27 --
The UN
Security
Council issued
a press
statement
late Tuesday
on Sudan and
South Sudan,
after the
silence
procedure
was broken and
Deputy
Permanent
Representatives
met to change
the
statement.
While
they
negotiated,
South Sudan's
Director
General of
Multilateral
Relations
in the
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs Mayen
Dut Wol told
Inner City
Press that
Khartoum had
started aerial
bombing inside
his country,
and was
demanding $32
dollar a
barrel in oil
transfer fees,
down from
$36 dollars
but much
higher than
the less than
a dollar a
barrel
South Sudan
says is paid
by Azerbaijan
to Turkey, for
example.
He
said that the
SLPA had
entered Jau
and one of the
five areas in
dispute.
Hours
later when
March's
Security
Council
president Mark
Lyall Grant of
the UK read
out the press
statement,
Inner City
Press asked
him why the UN
Mission in
South Sudan
hasn't
confirmed or
denied the
bombings.
Lyall
Grant said
that UNMISS "does
not have a
mandate to
monitor action
at the border,
they don’t
have access
into the
border areas,"
and that's
why the
Council hopes
the mandate of
the UNISFA
mission in
Abyei --
made up
entirely of
Ethiopian
troops -- can
be expanded.
Sometimes
UNMISS'
non-reporting,
though, seems
to have
political
roots. UNMISS
has
still not
issued its
estimate of
how many
people were
killed in
Pibor
in Jonglei
state at the
beginning of
the year, when
the UN was
slow
to arrive due
to not having
their Russian
helicopters
flying.
(Russia
says they told
the UN they
wouldn't fly
as early as
November).
UNMISS
chief Hilde
Johnson told
Inner City
Press ten days
ago the UN's
report on
Pibor
was going to
be finished
and made
public very
soon. But
where is it?
Sudan
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman put the
number of dead
in
Jonglei at
6000, for the
proposition
that South
Sudan has a
lot of
problems and
shouldn't be
attacking
North Sudan.
He denied any
aerial
bombing and
said that the
areas the SLPA
entered were
indisputably
part of Sudan.
Inner
City Press
asked
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman about a
statement by
Tijani el
Sissi, a
former UN
staff member
now an
authority in
Darfur, that
Chad
and Sudan
could patrol
their own
borders and
the UN Mission
UNAMID
could leave.
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman said the
the UN is
thinking
of moving away
from UNAMID's
military role
and that the
Chad-Sudan
joint patrol
idea is being
emulated in
West Africa.
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman said
that such
joint patrols
had been
proposed to
South
Sudan, which
responded no
or not yet.
One
wished that
South Sudan
was present to
answer,
whether by
Mayen Dut Wol
or
otherwise, and
wondered if
one of Sudan's
allies on the
Council told
them when to
come to the
stakeout and
South Sudan's
supporters had
not done the
same. The
statement was,
in UN
parlance,
balanced. But
the stakeout
was not.
It
becomes
increasingly
clear that the
oil transfer
fee issues
should have
been
resolved prior
to South
Sudan's
independence.
The sides are
far, far
apart and now
oil is not
being pumped.
Tuesday
morning Mayen
Dut Wol
of South Sudan
spoke about
memoranda of
understanding
to route oil
through Kenya
and elsewhere,
saying this
might be two
years off.
This issue
must be
resolved. But
will the
previously
scheduled
April
3 presidential
summit somehow
take place?
Watch this
site.
From
the
UK Mission
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: Does
the Council
believe that
the UN Mission
in South
Sudan, UNMISS,
has any
role...
There’s been
all these
reports back
and forth
where South
Sudan says
they were
bombed, North
Sudan says
they didn’t do
the bombing.
What’s the
role of the
Peacekeeping
mission... I
understand
that they
don’t have a
formal border
monitoring
role, but just
to be able to
verify or not
that bombs are
dropped.
Amb
Lyall
Grant: UNMISS
in South Sudan
does not have
a mandate to
monitor action
at the border.
They don’t
have access
into the
border areas
and so are
unable, under
normal
circumstances,
to verify
actions. They
have in the
past been able
to comment on
aerial
bombardments
when they have
seen that, but
it isn’t part
of their
mandate to do
that and
report to the
Council on
that. That is
why
we’re keen
that the
mandate that
UNISFA has,
which is to
monitor
the border,
and verify
what is
happening at
the border, is
established as
soon as
possible and
starts its
work.
Inner
City
Press: I'll
ask Ambassador
Daffa-Alla if
he does a
stakeout, but
does the
Security
Council, it’s
understanding
that the
Presidential
Summit on
April 3rd will
take place or
is now
suspended as
was said
from Khartoum?
Amb
Lyall
Grant: We
certainly hope
that it will
take place
but, of
course, it’s
not for me to
say whether
both
Presidents
will turn
up. Thank you
very much.
, 
