By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- When US Ambassador Susan Rice Tuesday did what was billed as her final UN stakeout, nearly all of the questions were about Syria. Inner City Press asked her about Sudan -- specifically, about Omar al Bashir's adviser Nafie Ali Nafie's postponed or canceled trip to Washington, what it would take to revive it, and where Sudan is going. Video here, from Minute 21:56.
Ambassador Rice said that while the Obama administration has a preference for improving relations with Sudan, there's Darfur and more recently the Two Areas (Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, see last week's Inner City Press story here) and Sudan's violation of the September 27, 2012 agreement with South Sudan.
On that, Rice focused on the flow of South Sudan's oil, which she was was only to be stopped for technical and not political reasons. Khartoum claims that South Sudan is assisting the SPLM-North rebels, whose shelling of Kadugli killed an Ethiopian UN peacekeeping in mid-June.
She said the halt on South Sudan oil flow shaded the view of the timeliness of the encounter with Nafie, and that there are steps that ought to be taken.
Inner City Press' talks with Sudanese diplomats finds them giddy that Rice is getting this promotion to National Security Adviser in Washington. But do they know what Samantha Power would bring? Can you say, A Problem from Hell? Watch this site.
Footnote: Rice spoke more than one might have expected about cost-savings at the UN, even about whistleblower protection (which Inner City Press in recent reporting on awhistleblower in Mogadishu finds to be almost non-existent, click here for that).
But the sound quality of UNTV during her final stakeout certainly seemed to indicate cost-cutting: an almost unintelligible echo, video here from Minute 21:56.
As Inner City Press reported this morning, the UN's new audio visual contractor TeamPeople is planning to shift down to a “skeleton crew” on July 1, when the US takes over the Presidency of the Security Council.
The new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed due to attempts at censorship in the UN, has asked the Department of Public Information why it is going to a skeleton crew, here, so far without response. As Rice said, many improvements are needed. Watch this site.
From
the US Mission to the UN's transcript:
Inner
City Press: You mentioned Darfur and the Two Areas, and I wanted to
know—since you’ve been here, in terms of Sudan as a whole, where
is it going? There was—Nafie Ali Nafie was supposed to visit the
US. It’s been put off. Do you think you will continue to work on
this issue in your new role? And what can you say beyond sort of
putting out the fires in the three areas that you’ve mentioned?
There seem to be problems throughout the country. What’s the U.S.
strategy? And what would it take for Sudan to do to have someone
like Nafie or someone else actually come to the United States.
Ambassador
Rice: Yes, Matthew, I expect to continue to work on this issue along
with many others. (background noise) Hold on—if I might finish the
answer. Yes, indeed, I will continue to work on the issue. The issues
of Sudan and South Sudan have from the very beginning of the
Administration been high priorities for President Obama and will
continue to be.
We
have long indicated that our preference is for an improved
relationship with Sudan but in the context of Sudan meeting the most
fundamental obligations to its own people. And what we have seen
tragically in Darfur and more recently in the Two Areas—and now
with Sudan’s violation of the September 27th Agreement with South
Sudan reflected in their decision to suspend oil flows, which are not
meant to be suspended under the September 27th Agreement but only for
technical reasons, not for political reasons—is discouraging and
has certainly shaded our view of the timeliness of such an encounter.
We remain in communication with the leadership in Khartoum. We will
continue to do so. But there are important steps that the United
States feels ought to be taken to protect the people of Sudan, which
is the responsibility of the government, and those have always been
central to our interest in and ability to make meaningful progress in
improving the relationship.
