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Afghanistan Resolution Slowed by Civilian
Deaths Raised by Russia, Cold War in UN
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
September 19, updated -- The
mystery of the
delay this week in considering Security Council's draft resolution to
extend
approval of the International Security Assistance Force mission
in
Afghanistan has been explained to Inner City Press by involved
diplomats:
Russia is attempting to introduce language about the type of civilian
casualties recently caused by U.S. missile strikes.
Russia
last month
introduced
a draft Press Statement on the topic -- in the wake of criticism of
its military activities in Georgia by the U.S. and others.
The Press Statement appeared to die on the
vine, but its spirit lives on, now delaying the ISAF extension. The
item was on
the Council's schedule, and then disappeared. Neither Russia nor the
U.S. is
publicly discussing the issue.
Update of 3:15 p.m. -- in closed
consultation in
the Council, Italy has proposed to put the draft into "silence
procedure" until 7 p.m., then vote on it on Monday. Russia has
countered
that they must go back to their capital. Developing.
What some call the new
Cold War is gathering
strength, but not all the moves are in public.
For
example, in the
closed meeting of the UN General Assembly's General Committee this
week, sources tell Inner City
Press that the U.S. and Russian representatives got into a dispute so
heated that
security had to be called. Also in
private at the UN was a meeting by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
with the
new President of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of
Nicaragua.
Following his speech
heavily criticizing the U.S., Ambassador Khalilzad was
asked to respond "to the GA president's speech."
Amb. Khalilzad and d'Escoto Brockmann: peace
pipe, but not in the General Committee
Khalilizad
responded
Ambassador
Khalilzad: Well, it's very important to
know what the
role of the president of the GA is. He
is the president of the entire 192 tribes that are here.
And his role is to facilitate the discussion,
to follow the rules, to do things that makes this organization work and
brings
people together.
So I hope
that the
president appreciates that, that is his role, and that's the
expectation of the
members of this organization. For him to succeed in the role that - he
has to
play his role, and that role is to be a unifier, to look forward
representing
the interests of all members rather than picking on some members,
siding with
others. That, I think, would undermine
his effectiveness, and I don't think that's in his interests or the
interests
of the organization.
On
September 19,
Inner City Press asked Brockmann's spokesman about the comments, and
was told
that the two had met and agreed to work together. We'll see.
Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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