Presidential Statement on Sudan
Council members are negotiating a presidential statement on Sudan at expert level which may be adopted tomorrow. The US raised the possibility of a statement on Tuesday, 31 May. However, given the pace of events on the ground and the complexity of issues to be discussed, Council members were unable to agree on the contents of the presidential statement that day. Negotiations continued yesterday. A new draft was circulated this morning (Thursday) with further discussions expected later today.
The presidential statement’s main focus is Abyei although there is also expected to be some mention of the future role of UNMIS. There are a number of substantive issues on the situation in Sudan that Council members have varying positions on which appear to be making the negotiaitions difficult. Among them are how blame should be allocated for the violent events in Abyei last month and whether to refer to the Ethiopian offer of a bilateral security presence in Abyei. Council members seem to have agreed that a statement would be useful, after initial disagreement over whether it was necessary.
Sudan’s letter to the Secretary-General on 31 May asking for UNMIS to end on 9 July is also being discussed. (The option of a roll-over as suggested in the Secretary-General’s report may no longer be on the table.) During the briefing on Sudan on 31 May Khartoum repeated its request for UNMIS to expire as well as in comments to the press in the stakeout following the briefing.
