By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 23, updated
-- Sudan on
Monday told US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
as president
of the
Security
Council, that
it "has
evidence in
the form of a
recorded
telephone
conversation
on April 20...
where
[South Sudan]
General Taaban
Deng is giving
clear orders
to the
commander to
burn all the
oil facilities
in Heglig."
Inner
City Press
obtained a
copy of the
letter, even
before
concerned
Permanent
Representatives
on the Council
had received
it, and is
seeking a copy
of the
recorded phone
call.
If true it
would bolster
the claim,
including by a
member of the
Thabo Mbeki
High Level
Panel, that
moves
are afoot to
try to move
Omar al Bashir
from power by
cutting off
income from
his government
in Khartoum,
the theory
being that
Bashir
could only
last six
months without
oil money,
while South
Sudan could
last eight
months or a
year.
Update
of 3:10 pm
-- Ambassador
Rice told
Inner City
Press, as the
afternoon's
Security
Council
session
started, that
the Council
will be
briefed and
hold
consultations
on the Sudans
tomorrow.
Sudan's
letter
also states
that the South
Sudanese
forces did not
leave Heglig
voluntarily,
but rather
were ousted by
the Sudanese
army. A
Sudanese
diplomat on
Monday morning
told Inner
City Press
that "people
in
Sudan are
angry," as an
explanation
for Bashir's
statements in
Heglig. Things
are
escalating.
A
Security
Council member
late Monday
morning told
Inner City
Press
exclusively
that his
delegation's
information,
with
photographs,
is that it
might take six
to eight
months to get
Heglig oil
production "up
and running"
again.
In
Washington on
Friday, April
20 Inner City
Press asked
State
Department
spokesperson
Victoria
Nuland
Inner
City
Press: about
Heglig, the
South Sudanese
army has said
that it’s
pulling out of
this disputed
town that it
went into.
Sudan is
claiming that
they threw
them out, and
I guess
President Kiir
has
said that he’s
pulling back
voluntarily
based on calls
from a
variety of
parties,
including the
U.S. What’s
the U.S.
understanding?
Are they
leaving? And
are they
leaving
voluntarily,
or
have they been
ejected?
MS.
NULAND:
Well, we
welcome the
announcement
from South
Sudan that
they
will withdraw
their forces
from Heglig.
We urge them
to completely
and fully
withdraw all
Sudanese
forces from
Heglig. In
parallel,
we’re also
calling on the
Government of
Sudan, as we
have
regularly, to
halt their own
cross-border
attacks,
particularly
the
provocative
aerial
bombardments
that – so that
we can get
back to a
place where
these two
sides are
working
together and
using
mechanisms
like the Joint
Border
Verification
and Monitoring
Mechanism to
work
through their
issues.
As
you
know, our
special envoy,
Princeton
Lyman, has
been there all
week. I think
he briefed
some of you
yesterday by
telephone. He
had a
very
productive
series of
meetings in
Juba and in
Khartoum. And
yesterday he
made clear
that it’s not
just the
United States;
it’s
the entire
international
community
that’s working
together to
get
this violence
ended.
Watch
this site.
