On
Libya,
France Says
Weapons Drops
Permitted, S.
Africa Says
They
Proliferate
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 27 --
After the UN
Security
Council put a
formal
October 31 end
to NATO's
Resolution
1973 mandate
in Libya on
Wednesday
morning, the
Permanent
Representatives
of Russia,
France,
the UK, South
Africa and the
US spoke to
the Press.
Russia's
Vitaly
Churkin, who
on October 26
told Inner
City Press
that reports
of
Qatar having
boots on the
ground in
Libya during
the conflict
would
be another
violation of
Resolution
1973, now took
a more forward
looking
approach,
saying he
hoped Council
members had
learned their
lesson.
Inner
City Press
asked France's
Gerard Araud
about his
country's
weapons drops
into
the Nafusa
Mountains.
Araud asserted
that Operative
Paragraph 4 of
Resolution
1973 allowed
for the
dropping of
weapons. The
rest, he
said, should
be left to the
historians.
But
when South
Africa's Baso
Sangqu said
some had gone
"far beyond"
Resolution
1973, Inner
City Press
asked him
about Araud's
statement.
Sangqu replied
that these air
dropped
weapons were
now
proliferating.
Inner
City Press
asked UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant about
recent moves
by the TNC
toward
shariah. He
replied that
there are a
variety of
political
actors in
Libya and it
is up to them.
Just
as Inner City
Press asked
Ian "The Brit"
Martin, it
asked Lyall
Grant:
what about
moves to strip
the
citizenship of
sub Saharan
African who
were given it
under Gaddafi?
Lyall Grant
said that it
is too early
to
get into that
level of
detail.
(c) MRLee
Amb's
Ogwu, Rice
& Sangqu,
permissibility
of weapon
drops not
shown
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
after saying
the the votes
against the
draft
resolution
on Syria had
nothing to do
with how the
Libya
resolutions
were
implemented,
took four
questions.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
weapons drops.
Ambassador
Rice said the
US didn't drop
weapons, but
that
Resolution
1973 didn't
"preclude" it.
Some call this
provide ground
cover for the
French.
On
proliferation,
as alleged by
Sangqu, Rice
replied only
in terms of
Gaddafi's
arsenal. What
about small
arms and light
weapons?
Footnote:
Inner
City Press had
wanted to ask
Ambassador
Rice a
question about
Yemen, the
immunity
provisions of
the Gulf
Cooperation
Council
iniative and
the US' role
in them, but
time did not
allow. We will
have more on
this.
, 
