UNITED
NATIONS,
May 2, updated
-- Does the threat of
sanctions in
the new UN
Security
Council
resolution on
the Sudans
apply to
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile and
if so, how and
how much?
Inner City
Press put this
question to US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
Russia's
Vitaly
Churkin, South
Africa's Baso
Sangqu and
finally
Sudan's
Ambassador
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman and got
different
answers.
In
the Council
chamber after
the 15-0 vote,
Churkin
distinguished
the two areas
and especially
the
SPLM-North. As
he left, Inner
City Press
asked him, so
the sanctions
language
doesn't apply
to Kordofan
and Blue Nile?
Correct, he
said, calling
these internal
conflicts.
Moments
later Inner
City Press put
the same
question to
South Africa's
Sangqu, who
distinguished
between the
paragraph that
begin with the
word "decides"
from Paragraph
4, which by
contrasts
"strongly
urges" with
regard to the
humanitarian
situation in
the two areas.
The African
Union, he
said, only
wanted Article
41 for
the political
roadmap.
When
Inner City
Press asked
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
she emphasized
the Paragraph
3 is also
about the
SPLM-N, and
they are
listed in the
paragraph
citing Article
41 sanctions.
Transcript
below.
She also told
Inner City
Press that the
"as necessary"
concession,
that China
got, didn't
change
anything.
Another
Western
diplomat told
Inner City
Press that "of
course it's
only as
necessary,
that goes
without
saying."
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman, when
asked by Inner
City Press,
said his
government
might not
adhere to the
portions of
the resolution
about the two
areas.
He said Sudan
is talking to
the Arab
League and
African Union
about this but
you can't
impose
sanctions on
this issue.
Inner
City Press
asked him
about another
humanitarian
issue, which
it asked the
UN about on
April 30: the
12,000 South
Sudanese
trapped in the
port of Kosti.
He blamed
their plight
on Juba,
saying that
Sudan had
provided seven
or 10 vessel
which had all
be confiscated
and put to
military use
by the South.
South
Sudanese
minister Deng
Alor was
present and
came to the
stakeout.
(Susan Rice
twice joked
that the
microphone
would have to
be raised for
him.) Inner
City Press
asked him, if
he thought the
Thabo Mbeki
panel process
didn't have
enough teeth,
did this
resolution?
He said that
the President
Mbeki process
had to be
enhanced, and
this was a
move in that
direction.
Inner
City Press
also asked
Deng Alor a
humanitarian
question: is
his
government's disarmament
program in
Jonglei
voluntary or
by force?
Recently it's
been said that
Jonglei
"raiders" who
don't disarm
will be
killed. Alor
insisted that
the
disarmament
program is
voluntary, and
that it is
going well.
We'll see.
Watch this
site.
From
the
US Mission
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: In the
chamber,
Ambassador
Churkin said
that his
understanding
is that
Chapter VII,
Article 41
doesn't apply
in Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile. And
outside, he
said that's
because it's
an internal
matter.
Another
ambassador
that it makes
this
distinction
between the
paragraphs
that are
"decides" and
the one that
"strongly
urges." Do you
see this
distinction?
Do you agree
that somehow
this
resolution
treats
SPLM-North and
those two
areas
differently
than the
North-South?
Ambassador
Rice:
Well, first of
all the entire
operative part
is under
Chapter VII,
and there are,
if I'm not
mistaken off
the top of my
head, four
"decides"
paragraphs,
including
one-paragraph
three-which
relates to
resolving the
political
issues that
are at the
root of the
conflict in
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile. And
we view both
Sudan-the
government of
Sudan-and the
SPLM-North as
bound by OP 3
of the
resolution.
You'll also
notice in OP
6-where we
talk about the
potential for
sanctions
under Article
41-we list not
only the
government of
Sudan and the
government of
South Sudan
but the
SPLM-North as
potentially
subject to
measures
should they
not comply. So
I think that
answers the
question. The
Council took
its time and
was quite
deliberate in
negotiating
and discussing
and debating
this
resolution,
and it has
come forth
with a clear
and unanimous
set of
requirements
on the parties
and a clear
statement of
its intentions
should the
parties fail
to comply.