Annan
Called
Assad Response
"Disappointing"
& Asked
for Statement,
Pending
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 21 --
When Kofi
Annan gave a
closed door
briefing to
the UN
Security
Council on
March 16, his
statement
now obtained
by
Inner City
Press and put
online here
called President
Assad's first
response, that
day
obtained and
put online
by Inner City
Press,
"disappointing."
Council
members
that day did
not have a
copy of Assad's
first
"non-paper"
response.
But Annan
recounted that
Assad
"insisted that
any
pause for
humanitarian
access would
need to be on
an ad hoc
basis
[and] gave
general
answers which
can only be
tested by
observing
actions on the
ground. I
would
characterize
the response
as
disappointing."
After
that there
was a second
response,
according to
Annan, in
which Assad
"agreed
that the aim
was to halt
the violence."
Annan
"appeal[ed]
to the Council
for unity
behind my
effort. The
stronger and
clearer
the message
you can
collectively
send, the
better the
chance that we
can begin to
shift the
worrying
dynamics of
the conflict."
In
the five days
since, the
Council has
negotiated a
draft
presidential
statement
which Indian
Ambassador
Hardeep Singh
Puri told the
Press he and
Togo
and South
Africa
suggested, and
France
drafted.
On
the evening of
March 20 in
front of the
"Nowruz" or
Iranian New
Year
celebration in
front of the
General
Assembly,
Security
Council
Ambassadors
told Inner
City Press
about their
discussion
that
afternoon on
Syria. "The
reporting in
seven days is
out,"
one Permanent
Representative
said proudly,
quickly
confirmed by
two
others. "But
Kofi's six
point plan
remains in."
Another
Permanent
Representative
emphasized the
switch from
"further
measures"
down to
"further
steps."
Later
Inner City
Press obtained
a copy of the
revised
Presidential
Statement, and
put
it online,
where it can
be compared
with the
original
version which
Inner City
Press also put
online.
Meanwhile
it
emerged that
Germany has
scheduled an
"Arria
formula"
meeting of the
Council on
Thursday
morning, with
the head of
the UN
Commission of
Inquiry on
Syria. "We
should
schedule our
own
Arria formula
meeting," a
less pro
Western
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press.
For
the record,
Syria's Perm
Rep Bashar
Ja'afari told
Inner City
Press that the
side
"are still far
apart," and
predicted that
the French
"will
be surprised
when silence
is broken,"
before 9 am on
Wednesday.
The
locus of all
this back and
forth was the
celebration of
Nowruz in the
General
Assembly
Tuesday night.
Attendees,
just from
among the
Council's
Permanent
Five, included
Vitaly Churkin
of Russia,
Deputy Wang of
China, Deputy
DiCarlo of the
USA, and
Deputy Briens
of France, who
told Inner
City Press he
had not heard
about the
Arria formula
meeting about
Syria.
Churkin
told Inner
City Press
that he had
been ready to
agree earlier
on Tuesday.
Wittig
of Germany
told other
reporters that
it was Russia
that asked to
check with
Moscow.
Annan
told the
Council, "I
have been in
constant
contact with
Foreign
Ministers
and
Ambassadors
from of many
states inside
and outside
the Council. I
have
appreciated
the counsel
and help
received from
all quarters.
I
would hope
that the
proposals put
by me to the
Syrian
authorities
could attract
wide
international
support."
On
March 20
Annan's
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi
confirmed to
Inner City
Press what it
had been first
to report:
that Syria
will not let
Annan's Arab
League
designated
deputy Nassar
al Kidwa in,
because Assad
does not agree
to
the Arab
League plan.
So Al Kidwa,
now in Geneva
according to
Fawzi,
will be in "
contact with
Foreign
Ministers and
Ambassadors
from
of many
states." We'll
see - watch
this site.
, 
