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STORY: UN / ABYEI UNISFA
TRT: 2.24
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
2. Pan left, Security Council vote
3. Zoom in, South Sudan’s Ambassador Francis Nazario at the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
4. Close up, reporter’s notepad
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Francis Nazario, Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Sudan to the United Nations:
“My government regrets that the progress on the implementation of certain elements of the 20 June agreement on Abyei area remains impeded and it is fully prepared to move forward with the establishment of the Abyei Area Administration on the terms already agreed between the two parties. On the question of the speaker of the Abyei Area Council, parties agreed that this person could be chosen from the NCP from among three people nominated by the NCP, but that all nominees will be Ngok Dinka.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
6. Close up, reporter’s notepad
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Francis Nazario, Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Sudan to the United Nations:
“We welcome the fact that the Ngok Dinka residents of Abyei area have started return to their homelands in greater numbers, but we remain concerned for the many tens of thousands of Ngok Dinka residents who have been unable to return. Their humanitarian situation remains extremely difficult.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
8. Close up, reporter’s notepad
16 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
9. Wide shot, Sudanese Deputy Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan walks up to the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
10. Close up, reporter’s laptop
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Hassan Hamid Hassan, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations:
“This withdrawal should take place simultaneously and it should be monitored by a body agreed upon by the two parties. The body will be composed of the two parties as well as the African Union. What happened is that the Government of South Sudan took a piecemeal approach, not the comprehensive approach that the Government of Sudan is calling for.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
12. Close up, reporter’s notepad
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Hassan Hamid Hassan, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations:
“It is quite possible that the y will try to get some arms, and they did get some arms in fact. Yes, you know, the market is open. They can get it from anywhere.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
14. Close up, reporter’s notepad
17 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
15. Zoom out, Hamid Hassan walks away from the stakeout position
The Security Council today (17 May) approved a six month extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) while representatives of Sudan and South Sudan continued to offer divergent opinions on the withdrawal of troops from the area an other matters.
Both countries had agreed to withdraw forces from the disputed oil-rich Abyei area and resume talks by 16 May. South Sudan withdrew its military and police components ahead of the deadline, but Sudan argues that it did so without following agreed procedures, including the formation of an Abyei Area Administration.
Ambassador Francis Nazario of South Sudan, speaking to reporters after the vote, said that his government regretted the lack of progress “on the implementation of certain elements of the 20 June agreement” but insisted that it is “fully prepared to move forward with the establishment of the Abyei Area Administration on the terms already agreed between the two parties.”
One of the points of contention is the question of the speaker of the Abyei Area Council.
Nazario argued that it had been agreed by the parties that the speaker would be chosen from among three people nominated by the National Congress Party (NCP), Sudan’s governing party, but that all nominees would be from Abyei’s Ngok Dinka ethnic group and that South Sudan had the right to reject the Government of Sudan’s nominee.
The South Sudanese Ambassador recalled that in May 2011 over 100,000 civilians were displaced from their lands after Sudan’s armed forces entered Abyei.
He welcomed “the fact that the Ngok Dinka residents of Abyei area have started return to their homelands in greater numbers” but expressed concern that “many tens of thousands of Ngok Dinka residents” had yet been unable to return.
Nazario added that “their humanitarian situation remains extremely difficult.”
The Security Council established UNISFA in June last year, weeks before South Sudan became independent, following the outbreak of violence and subsequent displacement of civilians.
A referendum that would have determined the status of Abyei in January last year failed to take place amid disagreements on voter eligibility.
Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan of the Republic of Sudan, also speaking to reporters, reiterated that the withdrawal of forces from Abyei “should take place simultaneously and it should be monitored by a body agreed upon by the two parties” and that this body “will be composed of the two parties as well as the African Union.”
He said that instead the Government of South Sudan had taken “a piecemeal approach, not the comprehensive approach that the Government of Sudan is calling for.”
Asked about reports that the Government of South Sudan was seeking to acquire anti-aircraft weaponry in order to repel Sudan’s alleged aerial bombardments, Hamid Hassan said that it was “quite possible that they will try to get some arms, and they did get some arms in fact.”
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after the signing of the peace agreement that ended decades of warfare between the north and the south. However, the peace between the two countries has been threatened recently by clashes along their common border and outstanding post-independence issues that have yet to be resolved.
