On
Gaza, Russia
Sets UNSC
Consultations,
Morocco
Circulates
Statement
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 19 --
After a
weekend that
saw an
emergency UN
Security
Council
meeting not on
Gaza but
rather, at
France's
request,
on the
Democratic
Repubulic of
the Congo, on
Monday morning
Moroccan
Permanent
Representative
Loulichki told
the press he
had circulated
a
draft press
statement
about Gaza. If
anyone
proposes
amendments, he
said, we will
hold
consultations.
Less
than an hour
later Russian
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly Churkin
told Inner
City Press
that Russia
requested
consultations
on Gaza
generally --
that is, no
only on the
Morocco
proposed draft
press
statement.
Meanwhile
inside
the Security
Council on
Monday
morning, in a
session on
piracy, the
lead speaker
was not
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon but
rather his
Deputy, Jan
Eliasson. Ban
is on his way
to the region
--
the Gaza
region, but
apparently not
Gaza itself.
Before
he left, he
issued
read-outs of
telephone
calls with
Israel's
Netanyahu and
Egypt's Morsi,
but not
Mahmoud Abbas.
Inner City
Press
asked why, but
got no
substantive
response.
This
seems to be a
pattern: Ban
on Saturday
issued read
outs of calls
with
about the DRC
with Rwanda's
President Paul
Kagame and
DRC's foreign
minister
Tshibanda --
but not the
DRC's own
president
Joseph Kabila.
Ban's
chief of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
refused to
even respond
to Inner
City Press'
question why;
one of his
spokesman told
UN staff to
keep
the microphone
away from
Inner City
Press, while
another
responded on
Sunday but not
about Ban's
calls. What
about Ban's
trip(s)? Watch
this site.
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