On
Arms
Trade,
Christmas Tree
Method Has
French
Hypocrisy,
Syria Denial
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 13 --
There are,
we're told,
many big
picture ideas
at
stake in the
Arms Trade
Treaty talks.
With half of
the sessions
now
closed to the
media, Inner
City Press on
Friday
afternoon took
in two
hours in
Conference
Room 1,
largely
devoted to
what weapons
should be
included.
The
working
method was, to
be diplomatic,
strange. The
chair called
on
country after
country, each
making
different
points about
whether
only weapons
"for military
purposes"
should be
included, or
the
unfortunately
named MANPADs.
The
paragraph
at issue got
longer,
repeatedly
called a
"Christmas
tree."
Australia
riffed on the
image, saying
that candles
would
be lit leading
to a
conflagration.
Meanwhile the
Swiss delegate
complained
he'd gotten a
cold from the
"climatization"
in
the UN
Conference
Room. Never
fear: now the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Management is
being taken
over, if only
on
act acting
basis, by a
man from
Belgium.
The
French
representative
took the floor
on both of the
paragraphs
considered,
but never
mentioned his
country's air
drop of
weapons
into the
Nafusa
Mountains of
Libya. Was
that a
responsible
transfer
of weapons?
Near
the
session's end,
the
representative
of Colombia
spoke up and
admitted, I am
not an expert,
I am just a
diplomat, I do
not have any
idea of what
you are
discussion.
Egypt offered
to explain,
having
broken from
Arabic into
English to
propose a new
version of
paragraph
two.
It's
said
that across
the wide
hallway the
closed session
was going
better, with
the chair
making a
compromise
proposal on
objectives and
then taking
comments on
it.
Now the "good
guys" on the
ATT
are getting
cautious about
offering
criticism;
closed meeting
have
been echoed by
closed lips.
For
the
record, Syria
states that it
did not push
for the closed
meetings, only
against having
two meetings
at once which
makes it
difficult for
it as a
smaller state.
It has, of
course, other
concerns as
well.
While
the
session was
ongoing, the
office of the
Qatari
president of
the
General
Assembly
issued a press
statement
condemning the
uncounted
deaths in
Tremseh,
Syria, and
calling on
"all parties"
to
stop violent
attacks.
But Qatar and
Saudi Arabia,
and the UAE if
only
via the Muslim
Brotherhood,
are reportedly
arming the
opposition and
even "Third
Force" in
Syria. And so
it goes at the
UN.
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