By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 28 -- Twelve days before South Sudan's independence, things on the still undecided border with Sudan do not look good. On June 27 the UN Security Council voted to authorize a force of Ethiopian soldiers to police Abyei for six months, but with little to no civilian component.
Meanwhile the UN, which previously flew the National Congress Party's man in Southern Kordofan Ahmed Haroun to meeting about Abyei, despite Haroun being indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, belatedly criticizes Haroun for denying access to Kadugli during what's called ethnic cleansing, and having kept the airport closed.
At least three UN staff remain in detention by Sudanese intelligence.
On June 27, Inner City Press asked the acting deputy spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Farhan Haq how the Secretariat and UN Peacekeeping intend to monitor human rights in Abyei. Haq said "the way in which the human rights monitoring will be done will be reported to the Security Council; we’ll let you know at that point" -- that is, a full month off.
On June 28, a self-described UN official to his credit provided somewhat more information, on background (that is, only if identified as a UN official and without direct quotation.)
Inner City Press asked the UN official how human rights will be monitored. The answer was that the small civilian accompaniment to the Ethiopian deployment may be able to slip in a couple of reporting officers. It was said that the Abyei or UNISFA resolution is a problem, under UN principles.
The same may happen with any UN involvement in the border between Sudan and its Southern neighbor: the UN may be asked to monitor from only one side, the South, and therefore only be able to monitor incursions from the North. The UN attends the negotiations in Addis Ababa and tries to say what it can and cannot or should not do, but seems not to be listened to.
The UN official, again to his credit, explained a bit more on the incident in Magennes in which Sudan detained from a UN helicopter UN staff and, incongruously, US and UK diplomats. (Click here for Inner City Press' exclusive story on the incident.) The UN official said that the area is physically under the control of the South, but the detentions were made.
An overarching problem is that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement appears to expire on July 9. The UN is supposed to leave North Sudan then -- absent a demarche from the Security Council that the UN official said may or may not be coming -- and even in South Sudan, UNMIS' mandate expires.
The UN official predicted that the US-sponsored resolution for a new mission in South Sudan may only be ready on July 8. The official said that not only Ban Ki-moon, but also President of the General Assembly Joseph Deiss should be attending the ceremony on July 9 in Juba.
Omar al Bashir, indicted by the ICC, “will be there,” Sudan's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press on June 27. And how will all this impact the freedom of movement, and credibility, of the joint UN and African Union Mission in Darfur, UNAMID? Watch this site.
