By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 8 -- On Abyei, the day after US State Department spokesman PPJ Crowley told the Press “we have a recognition that that referendum will not go forward on January 9th,” the UN on December 8 declined to join in the recognition.
Inner City Press had asked Crowley about Sudan, including the referenda and bombings, regarding which the SPML has asked for an investigation by the UN Security Council, led this month by the US.
Crowley did not answer about the bombings, but called the South Sudan referendum among the most important issues of the first half of 2011. He added on “the situation on Abyei... we have a recognition that that referendum will not go forward on January 9th, but we continue to encourage the parties to work on a solution to Abyei.”
At the UN's December 8 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if the UN and its Mission in Sudan UNMIS agree or disagree with the US assessment.
Nesirky woodenly repeated that Abyei is important to the UN, just as he has repeated platitudes from the UN Mission in Darfur, UNAMID, about looking into Khartoum's actions and statement, in order to speak with the Bashir government behind the scene.
In fact, the lone Darfur rebel group which signed a deal with Bashir has now broken it off and had its offices raided. UNAMID won't confirm this. Inner City Press is informed that when asked for the results of its inquiry into peacekeepers' inaction while civilians were killed in Tabarat near Tawilla in early September, UNAMID said there is no report for public dissemination.
Nesirky on Wednesday called this a "long question" -- it has been a long story, including a claim by Ban Ki-moon himself that he was taking the killings and protection of civilians by UNAMID seriously, ending in a whimper: no public report.
Also, the US Mission has still not answered questions put to it last week and on Tuesday about murder and bombings in Sudan, including a call by the SPLM for a Security Council investigation...
Here is the US' transcript of December 7 Q&A with PJ Crowley on Sudan (and Yemen) --
Inner City Press: Thanks a lot. Matthew Lee, Inner City Press. I wanted to ask about Yemen. You were asked, I think back on December 15th, if the U.S. was involved in any military operations in Yemen. And you said no. And obviously, the cables have sort of confirmed air strikes at least as early as December 17th. I understand maybe you’re going to say that you – the question was only about the Houthis. Can you just say – I guess is it –
MR. CROWLEY: Well, in fact, the question was about the Houthis.
Inner City Press: Does that –
MR. CROWLEY: I went back. I was asked about this earlier, and I went back to the transcript of last year. And the question started with the Houthis claiming that the United States had bombed them, and the answer to that question was no. Remember, in Yemen, there are multiple conflicts, and thankfully, at least for the moment, the conflict between the Yemeni Government and the Houthis has been resolved – or not resolved, but it has been arrested. But there is a conflict between the Yemeni Government and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. If you go back to a number of cases where we have been asked about particular issues, we have given a different answer that the United States supports Yemen’s counterterrorism efforts without being specific. So I understand that there is some confusion over how I answered that question, but I answered that question in the context of whether the United States was involved in the Yemeni action against the Houthis, and the answer to that was and remains no.
Inner City Press: And also on Sudan, I wanted to ask you – there’s some who are saying that the government started bombing – has been bombing in Darfur for some weeks and has actually now twice bombed South Sudan. So some people are wondering why the U.S. – obviously, the focus is on the CPA and the referendum, but is the U.S. thinking of naming an envoy, as some of the activists and NGO groups have said? What is the U.S. view of – are things going – what’s this bombing mean? Does it mean that the government is trying to stop the referendum? And what does – during your Security Council presidency?
MR. CROWLEY: I’m delighted that you brought up Sudan, and I think probably working off of the question of accomplishments in 2010, we can look to probably what might well be the most significant story that we face in 2011. We are now 30 days away from a referendum about the future of Sudan. We are encouraged by the voter registration that has been ongoing in preparation for that referendum. And we have made it clear to the parties that their future relationship with the United States depends on working cooperatively towards a successful and credible referendum on January 9th.
And secondly, depending on the outcome of that referendum and the will of the people of South Sudan, who through the CPA have earned the right to have a voice in their future, we have made it clear to leaders in Khartoum and Juba that they must cooperate in the post-referendum phase. And should the people of South Sudan vote for independence, it’ll be incumbent upon them to work effectively and cooperatively leading to the creation of a new nation of South Sudan next July.
This is arguably the most compelling – one of the most – if not the most compelling story that the world will face in the first half of 2011. And we understand the risks quite compellingly that if this goes well, it has the ability to transform and have a very positive effect on many challenges around the region, not the least of which is the situation in Darfur. And if it goes badly, we understand that there is a significant risk of a return to civil war. We are doing everything in our power, working, again, cooperatively with the international community, to try to make sure that the referendum on South Sudan moves ahead constructively.
We continue to press the parties with respect to the situation on Abyei. I think we have a recognition that that referendum will not go forward on January 9th, but we continue to encourage the parties to work on a solution to Abyei. Our Special Envoy Scott Gration has just – is returning to the region today and will be engaged over the next several days in Khartoum, in Juba, in Darfur. He will also be in Doha where the Qataris have led a very effective process to garner international support for this effort. So this is something that we have been committed to since the Obama Administration came into office, following up on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was negotiated during the last American administration, and we are committed to do everything in our power to see this referendum come off peacefully and credibly.
