By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 1 -- On
April 30, the
United States
put its amended
draft
resolution on
the two Sudans
"into blue,"
setting it
up for a vote.
Still that
evening, US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
spoke
with her
Chinese
counterpart Li
Baodong and
Russia's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Pankin.
On
May 1 outside
an afternoon
meeting of
Council
members'
political
coordinators,
Inner City
Press was told
that the US
was adamant
that the
resolution
would be put
to a vote on
May 2, that
the US has
"the votes."
One wondered,
does that mean
an abstention
is possible?
Later
one of the
objectors told
Inner City
Press that
talks and even
changes on the
draft
resolution
would continue
Tuesday night,
right up to
any
Wednesday
vote.
Another
well
placed Council
member pointed
out that while
the African
Union's
request
"carries a lot
of weight,"
the African
Union did
NOT ask for
Article 41
(sanctions)
and also did
not specify
WHICH
paragraph it
wanted
supported
under Chapter
7. "That's
where
the
negotiation
is," the
source told
Inner City
Press. We'll
see.
Meanwhile
at the
May 1 UN noon
briefing Inner
City Press
asked:
Inner
City
Press: an
Ambassador of
South Sudan
has said that
Khartoum is
conscripting
young South
Sudanese in
the territory
of the north
and
making them
fight; for
example in
Heglig and on
the border,
and I
wanted to
know, is
anyone in the
UN system
aware of that?
And do
they have, can
they confirm
that, and what
is going to be
done about
it?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well,
I’ll have to
check on that.
I don’t have
the
information
with me. I saw
the media
reports this
morning; we
will have to
check and see
and come back
on it. As you
know, our
Missions in
Sudan are
limited to
Darfur and
Abyei, so we
don’t have
missions in
the rest of
the country.
Consequently,
we
can’t monitor
what is going
on in the
entire
country.
Inner
City
Press: But Ms.
Coomaraswamy
does do
reports on
countries
where
you don’t have
a peacekeeping
mission. She
says this is a
problem,
the
recruitment of
children, this
would be the
forced
recruitment of
child
[inaudible]…
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, you
might want to
contact her
Office and
find
out.
Inner
City
Press: Right.
But, isn’t she
the Special
Envoy of Ban
Ki-moon?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Yes, but you
might want to
contact her
Office and
see.
Inner
City
Press. OK.
Hilde Johnson
gave an
interview to
The Citizen in
Juba, and she
said that we
have a
mandate, we,
UNMISS have a
mandate
to protect
civilians but
we can’t do
it. We don’t
have the
resources,
because we
don’t have
anti-aircraft
missiles. She
said
it a couple of
times. At
least the
article
reports it
twice. And
so, it is
unclear to
some, is she
asking, she
seems to say
that
they’d like to
have them. And
is that
something that
UNMISS, does
UNMISS want to
have
anti-aircraft
missiles? Is
that what the
interview
means?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I don’t
interpret it
that way. What
she was asked
was, you know,
what can you
do, you are
there in South
Sudan, what
can you do to
stop people
from being
killed by
aerial
bombardment?
And, she said,
well we don’t
have the tools
to be able to
repulse
the aerial
bombardment,
and she
mentioned
specifically
the fact that
they had no
ground-to-air
missiles to
deal with
planes coming
over
the border to
bomb the
place. I don’t
think she was
asking for
anything; she
was basically
making a
statement of
fact.
Inner
City
Press: does
South Sudan
have such
equipment?
Does she think
that they
should?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I don’t know
if South Sudan
has that
equipment or
not. But, I
don’t think
she was saying
that they
should have
it. All she
was saying was
that, in terms
of her mandate
to protect the
civilian
population of
South Sudan,
she does not
have the tools
in
her arsenal to
be able to
fight against
aerial
bombardment.
Okay,
thank you very
much, ladies
and gentlemen.
No,
thank YOU.
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site.
