As
French
& UK Copters to Libya, UN Has No Notice, Abdicates Its
Role
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 23 -- With the UK now openly saying that it will join
France in deploying and using attack helicopters in Libya,
the
silence of the UN which is supposed to receive notice of and even
coordinate such action is striking.
In
UN Security
Council resolution 1973, for legitimization's sake UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon was to receive notice of and coordinate action to
enforce the no fly zone and arms embargo.
While
the
spokesman for Ban Ki-moon have since tried to claim Ban does not
coordinate, on Monday his lead spokesman Martin Nesirky acknowledged
the notification role, but said no notification of the helicopters
had been received.
This
remained the
case ten hours later, even as the UK's William Hague said openly the
helicopters would be used. So who is coordinating what?
Ban & UK Hague, notice of copters to Libya not shown
From
the UN's
May
23 transcript:
Inner
City
Press: There are these reports of France, or sometimes, it’s
said, NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization], bringing attack
helicopters to, into the Libyan theatre, with the idea of using them,
I guess, to protect civilians, but it made… given… and I under
the resolution 1973 (2011), there seems to be some role for the
Secretary-General to coordinate or get notifications; has he received
anything in regard of the shift to attack helicopters in Libya?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
To receive notifications, that’s right, and to relay them
to the Security Council. I am not aware of any notification on that
particular topic. We’re aware of the reports. That doesn’t mean
there has not been a notification; I am not aware of one. I have
already asked our colleagues who deal with this to check whether
there is any development on that front.
But
then no
information, ten hours later and counting. Watch this site.
* * *
As
UN
Sends
“Low Level” Envoy to Libya, Provides “Cover to
NATO"
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
17 -- With the UN making much of having sent Jordanian
senator and businessman Abdel-Elah Al Khatib as its envoy to Libya,
Inner City
Press on May 16 asked Steven
Cook
of the Council on Foreign Relations
what he thinks might come of the UN's work on Libya.
“Nothing,” Cook
said flatly. Pressed, he said that even countries which “supposedly
have leverage... like Turkey with Assad” of Syria, are having
little impact. It has become “existential” for Gaddafi, Assad and
Salih of Yemen, he said.
So
sending a
“relatively low level Arab functionary, a former foreign minister”
like Al Khatib will accomplish little, he predicted. “The UN need
to be doing something because it's the UN,” he said.
Inner
City
Press
asked about the UN's role, under the Security Council's resolutions,
in coordinating and record-keeping for enforcement of the Libya no
fly zone and arms embargo. Cook was again dismissive. “The UN
provided legal cover for NATO in Libya,” he said. And that was it.
Ban and Jordanian senator Khatib: still (Bi Ki) Moon-lighting?
Meanwhile
at
the UN
on Tuesday, the Security Council will get a briefing on Yemen, where
the immunity deal brokered by the GCC has fallen apart. No action
has been taken, or even tried of late, regarding Syria.
The
UN has still
refused to “clarify” Al Khatib's contract, how he was at once
work for the UN and be a paid Jordanian senator. The UN Department
of Political Affairs put Ian Martin in a position for “post
transition” Libya, but has refused requests by Inner City Press to
describe what Martin is doing, or even what his rank is.
Now
Inner City
Press is told that Martin wants to replace Haile Menkerios in South
Sudan, in a mission that Khartoum is moving to throw out of the
North. And so it goes at the UN.
From CFR's
May
16 transcript:
OPERATOR:
Thank you. Our next question comes from Matthew Lee from Inner
City Press.
Inner City Press: Yeah, hello. I cover the U.N. a lot, so I
wanted to know -- and I know it's a smaller part of a larger story, but
what you guys each think of the U.N. -- I guess the secretary's
performance in Libya and Yemen, both of which they have kind of envoys
do. I mean, obviously they're having to, you know, please the
major powers, but do you have any insight into -- you have this
Jordanian senator, al-Khatib, that they've sent to Libya a couple
times. What do you think is going to come of that?
COOK: Nothing. (Pause.) Is that concise enough?
(Cross talk.)
ROSE: No, expound, Mike -- I'm sorry -- Steve.
COOK: Well, no, look, I think that what -- and I think this is
the case with any kind of envoy. And we see this with countries
that actually supposedly have leverage and influence in the region, is
that the Gadhafis, the Assads, the Salehs of the Middle East, it has
now become existential for them. And so no matter what kind of
vaunted leverage the Turks, for example, believe they have with Assad,
if it's a choice between what Assad believes is in his interest and
what the Turks are telling him to do, he's going to ignore it.
Then you take the U.N., which does not have the same kind of leverage
or influence, and they have some moral authority and some, you know,
relatively low-level Arab functionary or former prime minister to come
over and talk something -- some sort of sense into these people strikes
me as -- it strikes me that the U.N. needs to do something because it's
the U.N., but there's hardly any reason to believe that they can be
effective.
Inner City Press: And what about the U.N.'s role in the
military? I mean, I'm assuming you're going to say largely the
same thing, but supposedly they're coordinating the enforcement of the
no-fly zone and the arms embargo. I mean, is that just sort of a
joke?
COOK: Well, look. You know, the U.N. has provided legal
cover for NATO to be doing what NATO is doing in Libya right now.
Inner City Press: Asked and answered.
* * *
, 
