South Sudan Gets UN Nod: Hard Road Lies Ahead

The international community is less than 24 hours away from recognizing South Sudan as the world’s newest state.

UN Security Council today recommended the new Republic of Southern Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations.The General Assembly will vote tomorrow to officially recognize the Republic of Southern Sudan at UN headquarters in New York , where the country’s flag will be raised during a special ceremony.

After over two decades of civil war, Southern Sudanese overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence from the North in a referendum earlier this year.

Although the vote was meant to be the culminating point of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South, both countries still have to deal with a number of unresolved issues, such as the question of citizenship, demarcation of borders and ongoing violence in regions like Southern Kordofan and Abyei.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged both Northern and Southern leaders to continue working towards a peaceful solution to the unresolved elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

 “A viable South will need a viable North and vice versa. Together South and North must face their common future as partners, not rivals” Ban Ki Moon told Security Council members.

One of the poorest and least developed regions in the world, Southern Sudan will also face the difficult task of providing basic services to a growing population with little existing infrastructure available through out the country.

Ban warned UN member states that now was not the time to end funding to Southern Sudan, and called  on the international community continue providing much needed resources.

“In many ways our work has just begun. Institutions of government are weak. There are tremendous challenges on every front: social services, health, education” said the Secretary General. “At the day of its birth, South Sudan ranks at the bottom of almost all human development indicators.  Like any newborn, South Sudan needs help. Our responsabilities are enormous.” 

UN Tries to Bring "Terrorists" to Justice

Mike Smith, the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee briefed reporters today on a three day summit (Dec 1-3) being held at UN headquarters focused on preventing terrorists from financial resources and finding safe havens for hiding out. With partner agencies, including Interpol, the International Civil Aviation and Customs agencies, the Committee works to locate terrorist organizations and bring professionals from countries together to brainstorm on daily problems in managing borders and to gain insight on what needs to be done.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee was set up to support the UN Security Council to implement Resolution 1373, implemented after September 11, 2001. Unanimously adopted by the Security Council two weeks after the September 11th attacks, the Security Council immediately called on all member-states to prevent and suppress:

{ “financing of terrorism, as well as criminalize the willful provision or collection of funds for such acts…and for states to afford one another the greatest measure of assistance for criminal investigations or criminal proceedings relating to the financing or support of terrorist acts.” }

The United Nations Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism defines terrorism as {“any person who commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person, by any means, unlawfully and intentionally, causes:

(a) Death or serious bodily injury to any person; or

(b) Serious damage to public or private property, including a place of public use, a State or government facility, a public transportation system, an infrastructure facility or the environment; or

(c) Damage to property, places, facilities, or systems resulting or likely to result in major economic loss, when the purpose of the conduct, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.}

“When we visit countries, we look at their legislation and look at their definition of terrorism. There is no real international definition of terrorism, as it is continuously being debated, but Conventions do narrow the definition and identify acts of terrorism,” Smith added.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee will this week raise particular challenges, and will bring together over twenty prosecutors to discuss prevention, international cooperation, issues and challenges. The objective is to get prosecutors communicating with each other and pull together lessens of best practice. 

Smith added it is possible to bring successful terrorist cases to justice. But the challenges that do remain are questions of evidence, including evidence gathered through intelligence that does not reveal sensitive sources, and in cases where the terrorism has yet to happen—when police are able to intercept the conspiracy before the incident occurs.

Iranian UN Ambassador: Iran Will Never Bow

In a defiant address in front of the UN Security Council this afternoon, Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said that the sanctions adopted earlier in the day would not prevent Tehran from further developing its nuclear program.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to exercise its inalienable right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and to build on its own scientific advances in developing various peaceful aspects of this technology."said Khazaee.

He argued that the resolution was politically motivated and said his government had consistently demonstrated its opposition to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction, namely through Iran's cooperation with the IAEA, participation in the NPT ( Non-Proliferation Treaty) and a recent fuel swap deal with Brazil and Turkey.

In his address, Khazaee took Washington and London head on, alluding to the UK's colonial past in the Middle East, the US's sale of chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein in the 1980's and the role of both countries in the 2003 Iraq war to discredit their claims about Iran's nuclear aspirations and question their motives.

"I will not dwell on the abuse of this body and the biggest lies of the recent history articulated by still the same powers here when they attempted to justify their invasion of Iraq." said Khazaee, who also accused Permanent Members of The Security Council of "double standards" when it came to Israel's nuclear arsenal. "What is at stake today is the credibility of the Security Council, that has turned into a tool in the toolbox of a few countries who do not hesitate to abuse it when and where their interests require"

Asked about Khazaee's comments, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said she rejected Khazaee's notion of double standards, branding his comments as offensive and inaccurate, and clearly meant to distract from the fact Tehran was in violation of its nuclear obligation.

In the past few weeks, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised on several occasions that any new sanctions on Iran would mean the end of negotiations over its nuclear program, but Rice said the resolution did not mean the end of talks.

"This is a dual track policy, engagement and diplomacy remain very much on table.The purpose of this resolution was not to punish the people of iran, it was to change the calculation of the leadership in Iran, constrain their ability to pursue their nuclear and proliferation activities and persuade them of the wisdom of coming to the negotiating table in earnest"

Permanent Members Of UN Security Council Agree On Proposed Iran Sanctions

The Permanent Members of the Security Council ( China, Russia, France, UK and US) agreed on a resolution draft for another round of sanctions against Iran one day after Turkey and Brazil announced they had brokered a nuclear fuel exchange with the Iranian regime, a move many believed would impede US negotiations for sanctions.

But the draft presented late this afternoon to the Security Council has already received a cold reaction from Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, who told reporters Brazil would not participate in debating the proposed resolution because it believes there is a better way to resolve the conflict.

"The draft seeks to support, not replace, our efforts to engage Iran diplomatically" said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice."We've said through out this process that the door remains open to Iran to live up to its obligations and achieve a better relationship with the international community."

Rice said the new resolution aims to expand on existing UN resolutions by creating new categories of sanctions likely to "increase the cost" on Iranian authorities if they continue to flaunt their international nuclear obligations. Such measures would include new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms, provisions to block its use of international financial systems to fund nuclear proliferation and creating an annex of specific individuals and entities who would be subject to asset freezes and travel bans.

French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said the agreement on the draft resolution reached by Security Council Members, all of whom have " very different political positions and interests", was proof of the international community's shared concern over the Iranian nuclear program.

Russia and China have been the main opponents to another round of sanctions on Iran, but Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that, although Russsia would not have objected to a brief pause between the Brazilian-Turkish fuel swap and today's resolution draft, his government was satisfied with the general parameters of the sanctions.

"It is a language that is acceptable to us because it is focused adequately on non-proliferation matters and it is not supposed to create any problems for normal economic activity in Iran, it is not supposed to cause any humanitarian damage for Iran" said Churkin , adding that details about the annexes still need to be worked out and that consultations with non-permanent members of the Security Council on the matter would continue in the coming weeks.

What to do in Somalia?

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The lack of a coordinated international response might have emboldened pirates off the coast of Africa to step up their terror, according to Retired Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff. This comes on the heels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing the Obama Administration’s new approach to the situation in Somalia, which includes the U.S. seizure of financial assets.

Cosgriff believes that a coordinating authority among the nations with maritime interests in the region could help present a unified front against pirates.

“With so many different players on the field, it’s a bit like an all-star game without an authoritative coach. There are differing rules of engagement, national approaches, and limits on what they want their warships to do.” Cosgriff said it’s a challenge “to have the right ship from the right navy in the right place at the right time to do what you want to do.”

Cosgriff is former commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command. He held a talk at the Middle East Institute, at which he addressed the possible courses of action which could be taken against maritime piracy in the nearly 400,000 square mile region along the Somali coast.

“Doing nothing, or being ineffective at what we do, strikes me as bad policy,” said the commander, who addressed five possible courses of action that could be taken to curb the lawlessness:

• Do Nothing: Companies which traffic goods off of the African Horn would pay ransoms and treat piracy as a cost of business.
• Arm the Crews: Ship crews would be expected to maintain their own security through hiring private security forces or arming their mariners.
• Flood the Zone: International naval coalitions and unofficial patchworks of navies “with significant maritime interests” would patrol the region.
• Go in on ground - Light: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground aimed at equipment and infrastructure within known pirate camps along the Somali coastline.
• Go in on ground - Heavy: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground to flush out the pirate camps, seize property, and not allow the pirates to bare the fruits of their actions.

Cosgriff emphasized the importance of a coordinated international response in whatever route was selected, because it is an “international problem in the great global commons known as the sea.” A coordinated response would provide a uniform framework in which to react to pirates when they engage in hostility, according to Cosgriff. He said that since the U.S. is a global maritime leader, it should take a leading role in the solution.

“Whatever lies ahead, we have to take care… that the cure is not worse than the disease,” he said.

Cosgriff acknowledged that piracy is a business, and doesn’t believe that it is rooted in simple poverty and desperation, although he acknowledged those as contributing factors. “The overall problem is that of organized criminal clans,” groups which he said, “try to extend seaward the rule of the gun which pertains in much of Somalia.” He continued, “in short, piracy pays.”

Somalia has faced ongoing violence and lawlessness since the government collapsed in 1991.