Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at the Security Council Stakeout

Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at the Security Council Stakeout, April 24, 2012

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AS DELIVERED

What a full day. I have a press statement to read and then I will provide a readout of our discussions on Sudan and South Sudan, as well as on Syria, and take a few questions, obviously this morning we had a full discussion in the Council with Under-Secretary-General Bachelet and Under-Secretary-General Ladsous on women peace and security, our semi-annual discussion of that topic, and I won’t dwell on that since you heard their briefings in the open chamber. Let me begin with the press statement.

State Department on Attack by Sudan on South Sudan

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
April 23, 2012
STATEMENT BY VICTORIA NULAND, SPOKESPERSON
On the Attack on South Sudan by Sudan
The United States strongly condemns Sudan’s military incursion into South Sudan yesterday and calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of all Sudanese armed militia from South Sudan. Sudan must immediately halt the aerial and artillery bombardment in South Sudan by the Sudan Armed Forces. Sudan and South Sudan must end all military support for rebel groups within the other country.
We recognize the right of South Sudan to self-defense and urge South Sudan to exercise restraint in its reaction to Sudan’s attack in Unity State and to refrain from disproportionate actions which would only further enflame the hostilities between the parties. We welcome South Sudan’s withdrawal from Heglig, and we urge that South Sudan complete a total withdrawal of all South Sudanese armed forces deployed across the January 1, 1956 border.

White House on Eliminating Threat from Lord’s Resistance Army

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
April 23, 2012
Fact Sheet: Mitigating and Eliminating the Threat to Civilians Posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army
Today, President Obama announced that the United States will continue the deployment of a small number of U.S. military advisors to assist Uganda and other regional forces pursuing the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and seeking to protect local populations.  The President said that upon ordering the deployment last year that he directed his National Security Council to review our progress after 150 days.  Having completed this review, he announced that our advisors will continue their efforts to support the regional forces.  “This is part of our regional strategy to end the scourge that is the LRA and help realize a future where no African child is stolen from their family, no girl is raped and no boy is turned into a child soldier,” as the President said.  The President made this announcement in remarks discussing the United States’ development of a comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to mass atrocities.

President Obama's Message to the People of Sudan and South Sudan

In these videotaped remarks, President Obama sends an important and very clear message to the people of Sudan and South Sudan: conflict is not inevitable. The people of Sudan and South Sudan still have a choice, a chance to avoid being dragged back into war. Sudan needs to halt all military actions, including aerial bombardments; give aid workers unfettered access to people in need; and end support for armed groups. Similarly, South Sudan must end its support for armed groups inside Sudan and cease its military actions across the border.  All parties fighting – including in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States – must recognize that the only way to achieve real and lasting security is to resolve their differences through negotiation. 

Lyman: Major Diplomatic Effort Under Way on Sudan, South Sudan

Washington — U.S. Special Envoy Princeton Lyman says Sudan and South Sudan are seeking a diplomatic resolution to disputed borders and other issues related to oil production in disputed areas, and a number of major international diplomatic activities are underway to defuse the tense situation.

Ambassador Rice at U.N. Security Council on Western Sahara, Sudan

USUN PRESS RELEASE
April 17, 2012
AS DELIVERED
Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U. S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At the Security Council Stakeout, April 17, 2012
Ambassador Rice: Good afternoon. The Security Council had sessions both on the Western Sahara and on the situation between Sudan and South Sudan, and I’ll brief you on both, starting with Western Sahara. The Council heard briefings today from SRSG Abdel-Aziz and the Secretary General’s Personal Envoy Chris Ross on the situation in Western Sahara and the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO.

South Sudan Businesses Fear Oil Shutdown Fallout

When South Sudan decided to shut down its oil production to protest against alleged injustices from the north, the country was also cutting off 98 percent of its revenue.  Businessmen in the south are particularly concerned about the economic consequences of the shutdown.

Mustafa Ayoo runs a small hardware store at the Jebel market on the outskirts of the capital. Like many other business owners here, he has been closely following news of the oil shutdown, a two-week process begun late last month which should be nearing completion.

Israel Says It Will Deport South Sudanese

Israel's Interior Ministry says thousands of people from South Sudan must leave or face deportation.
Spokeswoman Sabine Haddad says since the Southern Sudanese have an independent state, they will no longer be given protected status in Israel. The country gained independence from Sudan in July.

Opinion: Sudan Oil Crisis: Extortion and misappropriation are not ’negotiations’"

By Eric Reeves

January 30, 2012 — A crisis that has been months, indeed years in the making has come to a head with the decision by the sovereign nation of the Republic of South Sudan to shut down all Southern oil production in the face of continuing extortion, theft, and misrepresentation of oil production and oil revenues by the Khartoum regime. Predictably, the international response takes the form of urgent pleas for Khartoum and Juba to "compromise." But this urgency should have been evident months ago, certainly when Khartoum first cleaved to a preposterous transport fee of $32 per barrel of crude oil (subsequently raised to $36 per barrel). This is not a negotiating starting point; indeed, it is the opposite of negotiation: with such a demand Khartoum is creating such a vast gulf between a reasonable starting point and what might actually be negotiated as to make those negotiations impossible.

VSO appeal for education specialists in South Sudan

VSO is seeking experienced education specialists to volunteer in its new programme in South Sudan and help future generations of children access a good education.
VSO is currently recruiting primary teachers, headteachers, inspectors and education managers to help tackle urgent challenges within education in South Sudan, where only 27% of the adult population is literate and only 37% has ever attended school, falling well below the Millennium Development Goal for education.
While there is huge demand for education in South Sudan, with school enrolments having quadrupled between 2006 and 2009 to 1.6 million, the influx of students is putting pressure on schools where on average there is only one qualified teacher per 100 children.

SOUTH SUDAN-UGANDA: Economic migrants battle xenophobia

JUBA/KAMPALA, 30 January 2012 (IRIN) - Petty traders from Uganda, South Sudan's largest trading partner, crowd into Konyo Konyo market in Juba selling used clothes, vegetables and household wares. Lacking economic prospects at home, they come in the hope of finding better opportunities in Juba's booming post-war economy.

Sudan-South Sudan Dispute Dominates African Summit

South Sudan has followed through on its threat and shut down all oil production as its dispute with Sudan shows no sign of resolution.
The leaders of both countries held talks in Addis Ababa late last week on the sidelines of the annual gathering of African leaders to work on a deal to share oil revenues. But the negotiations fell through when South Sudan's president, Salva Kir, said he could not accept the terms for transit fees
South Sudan controls more than 70 percent of the two countries' oil output but needs pipelines running through Sudan to get the oil to port.

IGAD urges Sudan and S. Sudan to refrain from unilateral actions

COMMUNIQUE OF THE 20TH EXTRA-ORDINARY SESSION OF THE IGAD ASSEMBLY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ON THE SITUATION IN SOMALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN, IGAD MINIMUM INTEGRATION PLAN AND PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA

The IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government held its 20th Extra-Ordinary Summit Meeting in Addis Ababa on 27th January 2012 under the Chairmanship of H.E. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly.
The Assembly was attended by H.E. Ismael Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti; H.E. Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia; H.E. Omar Hassan El Bashir, President of the Republic of the Sudan; H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan, the Honourable Henry Okello Oryem Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (International Affairs) and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda; and H.E. Eng. Mahboub Maalim, IGAD Executive Secretary.

South Sudan: Ministry Receives Repaired Lane of Juba Nile Bridge

Ater Garang Ariath
27 January 2012
Juba — The Ministry of Roads and Bridges yesterday received from United States Agency for Development and Japan International Cooperation Agency the lane of Juba River Nile Bridge which was under renovation for months. The Ministers of Roads and Bridges, Gier Chuang Aluong, of Information and Broadcasting, Barnabas Marial Benjamin, Minister in the office of The President Emmanuel Lowilla, Deputy Governor of Central Equatoria State, Manase Lomole, CES Minister of Physical Infrastructure John Ladu Tombe and the US Ambassador Susan Page gathered to witness the handing over occasion.

Sudan and South Sudan End Negotiations on Oil Dispute Without Agreement

South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and Sudanese leader Umar al-Bashir failed to reach an agreement to end an oil dispute between the two countries that led South Sudan to start shutting down its crude production.

South Sudan: Unity State to Screen Workers in Its Payroll

Juba — The unity state government yesterday subjected over 300 workers to investigation in what is attributed to their names appearing twice in the finance payroll.
Gideon Gatpat, the state spokesperson revealed this to the Citizen newspaper over phone in the state capital Bentiu. Gatpat said the state council of ministers discussed the decision and resolved to gives the directives to the ministry of finance and Public services to screen out those names which appear twice."This is to avoid recurring workers in the payroll", state Gideon.

South Sudanese women call for greater participation in constitutional review

By Ngor Arol Garang
January 25, 2012 (JUBA) - A South Sudanese women’s alliance on Wednesday said the National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC) did not fully represent their interests after its swearing ceremony on Tuesday

South Sudan Gambles Big With Oil Shutdown

South Sudanese express their support as President Salva Kiir
declared a halt on all oil operations in South Sudan, in Juba, January 23, 2012.

South Sudan is shutting down its oil production to protest against high fees Sudan charges to transport the commodity through northern pipelines. The move threatens both countries' economies and is heightening tensions that have festered since the south declared independence in July.

South Sudan, Kenya Sign Deal to Build Pipeline

By NICHOLAS BARIYO
LONDON—South Sudan signed an agreement to build an oil pipeline through Kenya, both sides confirmed Wednesday, a move that stands to heighten recent tensions over oil supplies between newly independent South Sudan and its northern neighbor, Sudan.

South Sudan To Try To Boost Non-Oil Revenue After Oil Shutdown

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
South Sudan will try to boost non-oil revenue after it shut its own oil production and halted shipments over a dispute with Sudan over oil transit fees, the South Sudan president said late Monday.
In a national address, President Salva Kiir said the dispute with Sudan had reached "unacceptable" levels, prompting South Sudan to stop exports, which need to pass through Sudan by pipeline before being shipped from Port Sudan.

Medvedev orders Russian troops out of South Sudan



Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (Reuters)

January 24, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Russian president Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree on Tuesday ordering his country’s troops to withdraw from the newly established nation of South Sudan who were serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

According to the Kremlin website the Russian soldiers and helicopters are to withdraw from South Sudan by April 1st after “honorably” fulfilling the tasks of maintaining peace and security in the country.

South Sudan conflict haunts U.N.

JUBA, South Sudan, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The government in South Sudan is called on to bring justice to those responsible for ethnic violence in the troubled state of Jonglei, a U.N. envoy said.
Hilde Johnson, U.N. special envoy to South Sudan and head of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan, said peacekeepers are sending in more troops to conflict-stricken areas of Jonglei and conducting aerial surveillance missions over at-risk areas.

South Sudan: UN condemns refugee camp air raid

The UN has denounced the bombing of a camp housing some 5,000 refugees in South Sudan near the border with Sudan.

A boy was injured and 14 other people went missing during the air raid in El Foj in Upper Nile state on Monday, the UN refugee agency said.
A Sudan army spokesman told the BBC that Sudanese forces had not carried out any bombing raids in the area.
South Sudan split from Sudan last July and since then their relationship has deteriorated.
Both countries accuse the other of backing rebels operating in their territories and it is not the first time South Sudan has been bombed - there were attacks in Upper Nile state and Unity state last year.
Refugees fled

South Sudan's Doomsday Machine

South Sudan was born as an independent nation on July 9, 2011, with good will and a bounty. Three hundred and fifty thousand barrels of oil per day provided the government with $1,000 per year for each of its 8 million citizens.

But the only pipeline to market runs through northern Sudan, giving the government in Khartoum control over South Sudan’s economic artery. And on independence day there was no agreement on the terms of pipeline use.

African affluence exacts toll in inequality

NAIROBI - In a cafe on the terrace of a Nairobi mall, well-heeled Kenyans sip coffee as shoppers in the car park navigate between BMW X5s, Toyota Land Cruisers and Mercedes. A nearby cinema last month advertised an array of Hollywood fare including Brad Pitt's "Moneyball".

Sales at this Java House outlet along the Ngong Road were up last year, says Kevin Ashley, a Californian who co-founded the chain of 14 coffee houses 13 years ago. Kenya's rich and new middle classes have a growing taste for lattes and ice cream.

Sudan seized oil worth $815 million, South Sudan says

(Reuters) - South Sudan said Monday it started shutting down oil production and accused Sudan of seizing $815 million worth of crude, escalating an increasingly bitter row over oil revenues between the former civil war foes.

By Hereward Holland

JUBA | Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:47am EST

South Sudan seceded last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but the two have remained locked in a dispute over how to untangle their oil industries.
The new landlocked nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to start seizing oil as compensation.

Sudan rejects plan for aiding war zone

KHARTOUM, Sudan January 21, 2012
Sudan on Friday rejected any plan for an aid "corridor" to war-torn southern states after the United States warned of a possible "horrific" famine affecting civilians in the area.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has said the Security Council "would have to review a variety of other options" to get food to people in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states if famine breaks out.
The government is battling ethnic rebels once allied to insurgents who now rule in South Sudan which be-came independent from Khartoum last July after decades of civil war.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Sudan+rejects+plan+aiding+zone/6031448/story.html

Ban begged for choppers in South Sudan conflict

UN leader Ban Ki-moon told Wednesday how he begged governments for helicopters but could still not get peacekeepers to a South Sudan town under siege because of growing equipment shortages.
Russia has in recent weeks withdrawn some helicopters and grounded those left with the UN mission in South Sudan, the world's newest country, which has been hit by growing ethnic tensions which have left hundreds dead.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

http://www.canada.com/begged+choppers+South+Sudan+conflict/6017835/story.html

Attackers kill 51 in South Sudan clashes: governor



A woman and her 18-month old baby (C), who fled to escape ethnic clashes,
wait for the UN's World Food Programme distribution in Pibor,
South Sudan's Jonglei state.
Photograph by: HANNAH MCNEISH, Getty Images

  JUBA - Gunmen killed at least 51 people in the latest ethnic clashes in South Sudan's troubled Jonglei state, the region's governor said Tuesday.
"The whole night (Monday) they burned the town... 51 are confirmed dead and now we have 22 (injured) evacuated to Juba," said Jonglei governor Kuol Manyang.

Oil prices gain Monday after Iran warning

Saudi Arabia says comfortable with oil at $100/bbl.



Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said the world’s No. 1 oil exporter —
the only OPEC member with significant unused capacity —
could increase oil production by about 2 million bpd “almost immediately”
from current levels, noting it wants oil prices to stabilize at around $100 a barrel.

Photograph by: ADAM BERRY, BLOOMBERG NEWS



LONDON — Oil futures rose on Monday on growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after the Islamic state told its Gulf Arab neighbours not to make up any shortfall caused by an embargo on its crude oil exports.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, said on Monday that could lift its production the United States pressures nations to stop importing oil from the Islamic Republic.

“Iran is the main topic still by some 2 million barrels per day ‘almost immediately’.

President Kiir: The New Year brings new hope of building a peaceful nation

JUBA, 11 January 2012 – The Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Sudan, Justice Ruben Madol Arol who was appointed recently through a Presidential Decree and approved by the National Legislative Assembly was sworn in today on Wednesday January 11th, 2012, before the President of the Republic H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, in a special swearing in ceremony conducted at the State House conference hall by the Chief Justice Chan Rec.

RSS marks the seventh CPA Anniversary

JUBA, 9 January 2012 – South Sudanese across the Republic of South Sudan today are marking the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), an agreement signed in 2005 that ended Africa’s longest civil war between the former rebel group of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SLPM/A) and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of Khartoum in the Kenyan town of Naivasha. It’s estimated that about 2.5 million people died during the civil war with thousands forced to refugee camps across the globe.

President Kiir commends WES authorities for maintaining peace and stability

JUBA, 8 January 2012 – The President of the Republic H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit commended Western Equatoria state government for maintaining peace and stability among its communities and urged the state authorities to continue with this spirit and not to allow anyone to insert seeds of hatred and division among the people of the state