Russia, China blocked calls on UNSC to condemn Sudan’s fighting in South Kordofan
August 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Russia and China have watered down a U.S-proposed statement to bring the UN Security Council (UNSC) to condemn the ongoing war of the Sudanese government in the country’s South Kordofan state, diplomats said.
Last week Sudan appeared happy at what it saw as a diplomatic victory after a closed-door meeting held between the UNSC’s 15 members on Thursday failed to issue a statement calling for ceasefire in South Kordofan where the country’s army has been fighting rebels aligned with the newly independent South Sudan since early June.
Sudan’s army has resorted to the use of aerial bombardment to quell what it termed as a rebellion against the state by the fighters of Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) amid reports of indiscriminate shelling and targeting of the indigenous Nuba population which largely supports the rebels.
The country’s permanent envoy to the UN, Dafa’a Allah Al-Haj Ali, said that some countries led by the US and France had pushed for the meeting to issue a statement calling on the Sudanese government to cease hostilities against South Kordofan’s insurgents.
According to the Sudanese diplomat, China, Russia, India and Lebanon objected to the demand, casting doubts on the veracity of the information on atrocities committed in the region.
Al-Haj however said he expects Washington and its allies to repeat the attempt.
UN diplomats on Friday confirmed that the U.S had to withdraw a statement it circulated earlier this week among UNSC’s members to condemn South Kordofan fighting and call on the government to cease aerial bombardment.
The diplomats, quoted anonymously in an AP report, said the U.S. withdrew its statement because of Russian and Chinese opposition to any condemnation or mention of aerial bombing.
Russia and China are both allies of Sudan, and Beijing is the dominant investor in Sudan’s oil sector.
U.S. Mission spokesman Mark Kornblau was quoted as saying that “the grave humanitarian situation in South Kordofan demands a clear and strong response from the Security Council, not a watered-down statement.”
France’s U.N. Mission Brieuc Pont, regretted the council’s failure to speak against South Kordofan’s fighting.
“Violence against civilians cannot be met with blank stares from the Security Council.””France will continue to work hard to achieve a clear and strong message on the violence in South Kordofan,” he told AP.
Expressing concern about “the grave humanitarian situation,” a spokesman for Britain’s UN mission told AP that “The Security Council needs to speak with a clear, united and strong voice on this.”
Meanwhile, the UN has produced a new estimate of the causalities and displacement caused by South Kordofan’s fighting.
According to Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 200,000 people in South Kordofan have been killed, injured or forced to flee their homes and land since the fighting erupted in early June.
(ST)