US
Nikki Haley Blocks PA's
Fayyad as UN Libya
Envoy, ICP Reports Feltman
Made Pick
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 10 – The US has
blocked UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' nomination of the
Palestinian Authority's Salam
Fayyad to be UN envoy to
Libya.
Inner City Press asked the UN
about the nomination earlier on
February 10, noting that its
sources told it the nomination
was really by Jeffrey Feltman,
the Obama administration's
appointee to head the UN
Department of Political Affairs.
Can Feltman stay on, given the
new Administration in Washington?
Did Antonio
Guterres err in nominating the
PA's Fayyed on February 8, then
heading out on a 12-day trip
just as the US expressed
disappointment and blocked the
nomination?
Nikky Haley, US Permanent
Representative to the UN, issued
a statement on the evening of
February 10 that “The United
States was disappointed to see
a letter indicating the
intention to appoint the
former Palestinian Authority
Prime Minister to lead the UN
Mission in Libya. For too long
the UN has been unfairly
biased in favor of the
Palestinian Authority to the
detriment of our allies in
Israel. The United States does
not currently recognize a
Palestinian state or support
the signal this appointment
would send within the United
Nations, however, we encourage
the two sides to come together
directly on a solution. Going
forward the United States will
act, not just talk, in support
of our allies.”
That the UN would
be naming a successor as its Libya
envoy to Martin Kobler of
Germany was reported
by Inner City Press in
December along with the name
of one of the candidates, the
UK's Nick Kay.
Later,
after Antonio Guterres took
office at Secretary General, a
Permanent Member of the
Security Council confirmed to
Inner City Press the candidacy
of Kay adding that there was
"another strong candidate"
while declining to name that
candidate.
Guterres
has written to the Security
Council that "following the
usual consultations" he is
giving the post to longtime
Palestinian Authority politician
Salam Fayyad, some are asking
of just what these
consultations consisted.
Already
significant forces in Libya
are opposing the nomination;
others are linking it to
Jeffrey Feltman, the Obama
Administration's head of UN
Political Affairs who has
arranged to stay on until July
4 so that his UN pension
vests. How will this sit with
Washington?
On
February 10, Inner City Press
asked the UN spokesman, Transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
there's a silence
procedure. Right?
Because the letter dated 8
February is out, and it says
that António Guterres,
following the usual
consultations, is… is
proposing Salam Fayyad as the
new… I mean, people have seen
the letter. So I guess
what I'm wondering is, what
were these
consultations? Did he
speak to the US Mission?
Did he speak to people in
control in Benghazi? Can
you give some sense… I guess
there's already some
questioning of this, and I'm
wondering, what
consultations? Is it
only with the Security Council
or with others?
Deputy Spokesman:
There's a normal process of
consultations that occurs when
envoys are selected, and part
of that policy for envoys that
report to the Security Council
involves informing the
Security Council. That's
the only real detail I'd be
able to share at this stage.
The
president of the Security
Council, Ukraine, told Inner
City Press silence expires at
5 pm on February 10...
They note
that the Trump administration,
in its draft
Executive Order, proposes
cutting US funding to any UN
entity which allows the Palestinian
Authority as a member, and is
discussing cutting funding to
the PA. Was the US
Mission to the UN consulted?
Which Mission?
And what
of Nick Kay, formerly UN envoy
to Somalia, now back with the
US FCO? Does Kobler return
immediately to the German
foreign service, where he
still has a position as he
told Inner City Press when questioned
about his predecessor at
UNSMIL Bernardino Leon selling
out to the UAE diplomatic academy?
What Under Secretary General
post will Germany get in the
UN? Watch this site.
***
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