From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Feb 02 2010 - 16:10:57 EST
Click here to close this window Wed, Feb 03, 2010 09:12 UT
UN Chief to name Eritrean diplomat as new special envoy to Sudan
Monday 1 February 2010.
January 31, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on
Sunday said he will name Haile Menkerios, a former Eritrean diplomat
as his special envoy to Sudan making him the third head of the UN
Mission in Sudan.
Haile Menkerios "I have the intention to appoint Haile Menkerios as
head of UNMIS as of the end of February with a view to facilitate the
political process," disclosed Ban Ki Moon during remarks delivered at
special meeting on Sudan at the sidelines of the AU summit in Addis
Ababa.
Menkerios, is currently the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General
for Political Affairs.
At the UN, he was Director of the Africa I Division in the Department
of Political Affairs from June 2003 to June 2005. On September 26,
2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced his appointment as
Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the
Democratic Republic of the Congo; he assumed this post in October
2005. Subsequently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced his
appointment as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs on
May 16, 2007, and he assumed this post on July 1, 2007.
>From 1991 to 2000, Menkerios was Eritrea’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and
the Organisation of African Unity, and was Eritrea’s Permanent
Representative to the United Nations.
Ban Ki-Moon said yesterday he would work with the African Union to
maintain united Sudan and avoid southern Sudan secession.
The UN Secretary General reiterated during the special meeting his
call for the Sudanese parties signatories of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement to make unity attractive. He also urged them to reach an
agreement on the key post referendum arrangement.
"To the CPA parties, I urge an acceleration of efforts to make unity
attractive. I call on them to ensure an environment in which
candidates can campaign freely and the people of Sudan can vote
without any interference," he said.
"The referenda in Southern Sudan and Abyei need to be held without
hindrance and the results duly respected, he added.
In a recent report to the UN Security Council, Ban said a new civil
war in Sudan could break out, given the atmosphere of deep mistrust
between various key players in the country.
Also, Sudan Rice, US envoy to the UN, expressed concerns about arms
flowing to South Sudan saying "We heard today from the U.N. that it is
not just small arms but some heavier munitions that seem to be flowing
in," adding Washington believes some were coming from northern Sudan.
But Khartoum denied the accusations.
(ST)
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