Without
Disclosure,
UN's Ban Meets
Saudi-Sponsored
Jarba, Not in
Media
Alert
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 28,
updated --
After a range
of groups
fighting the
Assad
government in
Syria
disavowed and
denounced as
Gulf and
Western-annointed
the
Saudi-sponsored
rebel boss
Ahmad al
Jarba,
France
tried to prop
up Jarba by
hosting him to
speak for
twenty
minutes in the
UN's ECOSOC
Chamber on
September 26.
On
September 27
in front of
the UN
Security
Council, Inner
City Press
asked
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari about
France's
Jarba meeting.
Ja'afari said
his country
had written to
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon in
advance of the
meeting,
arguing that
it
violated the
UN Charter.
Inner
City Press
then asked
French foreign
minister
Laurent
Fabius, who
admitted that
if the
argument was
that the
meeting
violated "the
rules of this
house," that
could be
discussed.
But
it couldn't be
discussed,
then, with Ban
Ki-moon: at
the stakeout,
he
took only two
question, both
from board
members of the
UN
Correspondents
Association
which supports
and hosted
Jarba for a faux
UN briefing in
July.
They
tried again
this week; the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info
asked Ban's
spokesperson's
office how
this was
legitimate
and was told
to "ask UNCA."
Friday the
briefing was
held
outside the UN
in a hotel;
Jarba left
early.
Despite
reports
that Jarba had
left the US on
Friday to try
to prop up his
legitimacy
with
opposition
groups on the
ground in
Syria, at 7:41
pm
on Saturday
night Ban
Ki-moon's
office
suddenly
issued a
read-out
that Ban
himself had
met with Jarba
earlier in the
day -- when
and
where is not
clear.
The
UN Media Alert
for Saturday,
as updated in
e-mails to
correspondents,
did not list
any meeting of
Ban with
Jarba. But
this was
issued at
7:41 pm:
Subject:
Readout
of
Secretary-General's
meeting with
National
Coalition for
Syrian
opposition
forces
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Sat, Sep
28, 2013 at
7:41 PM
Readout
of
Secretary-General's
meeting with
National
Coalition for
Syrian
opposition
forces
The
Secretary-General
met today with
the President
of the
National
Coalition for
the Syrian
opposition
forces, Mr.
Ahmad
al-Jarba. He
underlined the
suffering of
the Syrian
people on all
sides, as a
result of the
conflict, and
also the
hardship of
the
neighbouring
countries
hosting Syrian
refugees.
The
Secretary-General
welcomed Mr.
al-Jarba's
commitment to
send a
delegation to
the Geneva
Conference,
and urged the
National
Coalition
to reach out
to other
opposition
groups and
agree on a
representative
and united
delegation.
He
stressed
the paramount
importance of
embarking on
serious
dialogue as
soon as
possible, as
well as the
need to ensure
accountability
for
war crimes.
New
York,
28 September
2013
Inner
City Press
immediately
wrote to Ban's
top two
spokespeople:
Having
just
seen read-out
of the SG's
meeting with
al-Jarba, here
are
questions on
deadline:
1)
when
did this
meeting take
place? Where?
Who attended?
2)
Why
this meeting
not in the UN
Media Alert or
updates as
emailed to
correspondents?
3)
Please
confirm the
Secretariat's
receipt from
Syria of an
objection
to the meeting
of the "Group
of Friends of
the Syrian
People"
featuring
Al-Jarba in
ECOSOC, and
please state
the
Secretariat's
response to
the charge
that the
meeting was
inappropriate
/ violated
the UN
Charter.
Watch
this site.
Update:
Ban's
spokesperson,
we're glad
they at least
responded
quickly to the
above, has
replied:
, 
