By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, December 6, updated with letter -- Sudan's relations with the UN and United States do not appear to be improving. The new Expert on Sudan Sanctions appointed last month by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Ghassan Schbley of the United States, was recently "interrogated" and denied entry into Sudan, sources exclusively tell Inner City Press.
Schbley previously worked on the UN's Somalia and Eritrea sanctions, from which after complaints he and coordinator Matt Bryden were removed. Inner City Presswrote about this back in August 2012, here.
The sources tell Inner City Press that this history is one of the reasons Schbley was denied access by Sudan. They question why Ban Ki-moon thought the shift would work smoothly. But others wonder, why was Schbley given a visa if in fact he would be blocked?
Update: Inner City Press has obtained, and has put on its beta Google+ page, here, Sudan's "incident report."
Second Update: Morocco's Permanent Representative Loulichki, the Security Council president for December, told Inner City Press his mandate now is to "demarche" Sudan's Permanent Representative about the case -- and listen to further explanation. Other comments were sought, but seven hours later by press time were not received. Watch this site.
Khartoum has other complaints about the implementation of Sudan sanctions, saying when the UN expert tried to check if the Justice and Equality Movement carried Gaddafi weapons into South Sudan, they weren't let in but hardly complained.
Meanwhile, the Thursday morning Security Council session on Sudan and South Sudan, more specifically Abyei, came to very little.
The African Union will be briefed by Thabo Mbeki's High Level Implementation Panel on December 14, prior to another UN Security Council session on December 18. The six week "deadline" on Abyei has come and gone.
South Sudan, too, has it problems with the UN, for having thrown out the UN's human rights expert. This is explained to Inner City Press by other sources as being based on an "attempted coup" in South Sudan, and the coming up of the name of the UN expert. Two were to be thrown out, which was reduced to one. But it is unlikely to be reversed.
And what is Hilde Johnson doing? What will the Council's Sudan Sanctions committee do about the blockage of Ghassan Schbley? Watch this site.
