By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 14 -- South Sudan was admitted to the UN on Thursday morning in New York, its new flag raised on the pole of Mauritius facing First Avenue.
In the General Assembly, US Ambassador Susan Rice on behalf of the host country quoted President Obama, that “after the darkness of war, there can be a new day of peace and progress.” Her speech did not mention the continued war in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur in the Sudan.
South Sudan's vice president Riek Machar in his speech spoke of these and of Darfur, and called for peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and in Somalia. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his trip to Juba last weekend met with Eritrea's president Isaias Afewerki, and his office issued this read out:
“The Secretary-General met with President Isaias Afewerki in Juba on 8 July 2011. The Secretary-General and President Afewerki discussed peace and security issues in the region in particular the independence of South Sudan, and they agreed to find another opportunity to discuss the role of Eritrea and the complexities of the sub-region.”
Strikingly, the UN's read out of the meeting did not even mention Ethiopia or Somalia. On July 11, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about it:
Inner City Press: the Secretary-General met with the President of Eritrea. I wanted to know if that was his first meeting with him. And also the readout didn’t seem to make any reference to the widespread allegations that Eritrea supports Al-Shabaab and is a destabilizing factor in Somalia. Was this something that was discussed, or was not in the readout, or not discussed at all?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, the readout speaks for itself, Matthew.
Inner City Press: Is that his first meeting with the President of Eritrea?
Spokesperson Nesirky: I’ll check, but on the other topic that you’ve mentioned, I think the readout speaks for itself.
While more than two days later this simple question had not been answered, in the meantime several diplomats at the UN told Inner City Press that what the read out speaks of is a diplomacy by Ban that is far too quiet. Even South Sudan with all the work ahead of it is talking about peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia, including in Somalia. How could the Secretary General not even bring it up?
Ban spoke at the South Sudan festivities on Thursday morning, but unlike President of the General Assembly Joseph Diess, Ban took no questions. (Nor did he on July 12, when he came to the Security Council stakeout but left without taking any questions.)
So Inner City Press went to Thursday's noon briefing, after the South Sudan flag raising and PGA Deiss' stakeout were over.
Several journalists were waiting, but none of Ban's spokespeople ever appeared. Finally Inner City Press was directed to an email of 10 am that day, that “Noon Briefing canceled.”
Inner City Press immediately emailed Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky and his deputy Farhan Haq, asking, “Could you say why there is no noon briefing today?”
A quarter of an hour later, Haq replied, “We had explained to the press via the intercom this morning: Because of the flag raising ceremony for the Republic of South Sudan just before noon, there will be no noon briefing today.”
This does not explain it: the Office of the Spokesperson has more than enough staff to cover the flag raising ceremony -- which like Deiss' stakeout was over before noon -- and the already determined admission of South Sudan to the UN is hardly the only news of the day.
So why did Ban not take questions on July 12, not hold a stakeout like President of the General Assembly Deiss on July 14, and cancel even the normal noon briefing on July 14? Watch this site.
Footnotes: Mauritius gave up its flag pole space because it happened to be right in front of the GA, Inner City Press was told. Inside the General Assembly, making an extra space for the Republic of South Sudan was said to require one of the three Observers to not have a space. Palestine and the Holy See continued to share; the EU was not in. Camera space is going to be taken for extra states under the Capital Master Plan, Inner City Press has been told. We'll be here.
