Briefing on Sudan
The briefing on Sudan scheduled for this afternoon by peacekeeping head, Alain le Roy, has been postponed. It appears that the parties asked the Council to give them more time to work out a solution to Abyei. (Since Sunday Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and former South African President, Thobo Mbeki, with UN Special Envoy, Haile Menkerios present, have been mediating between north Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and south Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.)
This follows an earlier postponement of the Sudan briefing which had originally been planned for Friday, 10 June and was moved to today (13 June) so that the Council could get a read out on the meeting that took place among the parties and mediators on Sunday, 12 June.
It seems that Russia and China were particularly keen for the Council not to take any action today on the basis that this might affect the talks. The US has indicated that it would like to see follow-up on the 3 June presidential statement agreeing to a review “in the coming days” as it appears open to giving the parties some time to come up with a postiive outcome.
A new date has not yet been set for the briefing. There are growing concerns that this briefing and related Council action may need to be rolled into the discussion expected on Monday, 22 June on the new mission for south Sudan.
