On
Libya,
UN's Martin to
Doha As His
"Post-Conflict"
Post Called
Misnomer
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22 --
Hour after UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
said he was
sending to
Doha his
envoys Al
Khatib and Ian
Martin, in
charge of
"post-conflict
planning" in
Libya, Inner
City
Press asked
Martin when he
would go, and
asked the
Council on
Foreign
Relations'
experts about
the UN's
performance.
CFR's
Robert Danin
told Inner
City Press
that there's
been planning
in European
capitals
"but not at UN
headquarters,
since the UN
has to be
driven by a
strong force
to take
action.
Inner
City Press
put the same
question to
Daniel Serwer
of Johns
Hopkins School
of
Advanced
International
Studies, who
said that
European
planning, at
least by the
UK, was on the
"civilian
side," not
policing
or
peacekeeping.
He took issue
with Libya
being
characterized
as
"post
conflict,"
calling it a
"misnomer"
when
Libya is not
yet even fully
"post
Gaddafi."
Ian
Martin, to the
surprise of
some, was
still in New
York on Monday
afternoon.
Inner
City Press
told him what
Serwer had
said,
contesting his
"post-conflict"
job title.
Martin nodded,
and was
non-committal
in response to
repeated press
requests that
he give a
briefing or
answer
questions.
Others
tell Inner
City Press
that Martin
heads Monday
night to Doha,
and then will
see
where that
will lead. Ban
Ki-moon's call
Monday morning
for a new
Security
Council
mandate won't
bear fruit,
this people
say, for "a
week or ten
days," after a
series of
consultations.
Ban & Ian
Martin, who's
yet to brief
the press:
"post
conflict"?
Footnote:
Earlier
on Monday, US
President
Barack Obama
said he's told
his UN
Ambassador
Susan Rice to
ask Ban to
"use next
month's
General
Assembly to
support this
important
transition" in
Libya. While
the first step
would seem to
be to
re-credential
Ibrahim
Dabbashi as
Libya's UN
Ambassador,
some cynics
later Monday
mused that to
get the
General Debate
to focus on
Libya rather
than the moves
for
Palestinian
statehood
scheduled for
September 20
might be one
of
Obama's
motives. Watch
this site.
* * *
On
Syria,
Ban Ki-moon
Belatedly
Tells Press
Assad "Has Not
Kept His
Word," Harder
Crackdown
Predicted
After Libya
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22 --
"It is
troubling that
[Assad] has
not kept
his word"
about stopping
military
operations, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon told
Inner City
Press on
Monday, five
days after
Ban
quoted Assad
on August 17
that "military
operations had
stopped."
Inner
City Press
twice
last week
asked Ban's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq if
Ban
believed
Assad's
statement,
despite what
was seen even
on television.
Haq said Ban
thought an
investigation
should take
place.
On
August 22,
even
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay said
that at least
39
people have
been killed by
Assad's forces
since Ban's
quote of him.
And so at the
end of a Ban
Ki-moon media
stakeout
Monday morning
about
Lybia,
with Haq
trying to end
the session
without the
question
being posed,
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: On
Syria, you had
said that
President
Assad said
that
military and
police
operations,
when you spoke
with him.
Since then,
according to
Navi Pillay,
39 more people
have been
killed. Did
you
ever believe
that
statement? Do
you believe it
now and what
should
be done?
SG
Ban:
This is what
he clearly
told me when I
had the
telephone talk
with him and
he assured me
that the
humanitarian
assistance
assessment
team will be
able to visit
different
places. And,
as you
know, our team
is already in
Syria - they
are now
assessing the
situation. It
is troubling
that he has
not kept his
word. Many
world leaders
have been
speaking to
him to halt
immediately
military
operations
that are
killing his
own people,
and he assured
me [he
would] do that
and military
operations
have already
stopped. Now
he
has seen and
he has heard
all these
serious and
urgent calls
to him,
and I
sincerely hope
that he heeds
the
international
community’s
appeal and
call. (Video here,
from Minute
9:25).
Meanwhile
the UN
humanitarian
assessment
team fled Hom
under fire.
Ban &
Assad,
previously,
who called who
on Aug 17 not
shown
A
Ban Ki-moon
administration
official on
Monday
predicted to
Inner City
Press that
events in
Tripoli would
make Assad
"crack down
harder" to
avoid
Gaddafi's
fate. Another
told Inner
City Press
that it was
Assad
who called
Ban, and not
the other way
around --
Assad called
Ban
looking for
ground cover.
Given
the
invisibility
at the crucial
moment of
Ban's two
Libya envoys /
advisers Ian
Martin and Al
Khatib,
the question
of whether Ban
will
try to appoint
an envoy to
Syria "is
moot," one
said -- it
wouldn't make
any
difference.
Watch this
site.
, 
in