By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- Amid UN self congratulation about the agreements between Sudan and South Sudan announced last week in Addis Ababa, almost nothing was heard during the General Debate about Darfur, where the UN has a $1 billion peacekeeping mission, UNAMID.
In a Tuesday UN press conference, Inner City Press asked new Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson about this omission, and also whether any progress has been made on getting aid into the Two Areas, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Earlier in front of the Security Council, Inner City Press asked US Permanent Representative Susan Rice about the Two Areas as well as Abyei.
Ambassador Rice replied that as before, the African Union High level Implementation Panel and the UN's Haile Menkerios "will keep working" on Abyei; she added, seemingly referring to the Security Council, "we're going to stay on top of it, the Two Areas as well."
Eliasson, who as Inner City Press noted previously served as UN envoy on Darfur, began by admitting that humanitarian aid has still not reached the Two Areas, despite previous statements. We're having a hard time "implementing" it, he said, citing continued fighting and danger.
Cynically or not, Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman told Inner City Press that his country puts the blame on the UN for not showing up at the Tripartite meetings in Khartoum, and says he wrote a letter to this effect to the UN. We will continue on this.
On Darfur to which he used to be the UN envoy, Eliasson admitted that the problems are not solved there but it is receiving less and less focus. One wonders: isn't that in part the UN's fault?
For the General Debate week, doesn't the UN Secretariat choose some issues it is going to push? Member states were going to push Syria. Shouldn't the UN speak at least about the areas where it has peacekeeping mission?
UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous openly refuses to answer any Press questions, because of coverage he hasn't liked. One might reply, do a better job. But what about the claimed support other UN officials and oratory in the General Debate for freedom of the press? Watch this site.
