At
UN on Libya,
As S. Africa
Says TNC Would
Be Recognized
by
Resolution, US
Says "Let's
Vote"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 24 --
With a vote
set for August
25 in the UN
Security
Council on a US sponsored
resolution
to unfreeze
$1.5 billion
in frozen
Libyan assets,
and to direct
some
of it "as
directed by
the National
Transitional
Council," a
question has
arisen whether
this would
implicitly
confer UN
recognition on
the TNC.
South
African's
Permanent
Representative
Baso Sangqu
told the Press
on Wednesday
this would be
a form of
recognition of
the TNC,
adding that
his country
could
live with the
resolution if
it added that
it does not
imply this
recognition.
When
Inner City
Press asked a
spokesman for
the US Mission
to the UN
spokesman
about
such a line he
said he did
not want to
prejudge the
next 24 hours
of
negotiations,
before the
scheduled vote
on Thursday
afternoon.
But
sources
inside the
consultations
say that the
argument made
against the
line
was that the
Security
Council does
not give
recognition,
so the
caveat line
would not be
added.
Since
Resolution
1970 provided
that frozen
assets could
only be given
to the
legitimate
Libyan
authorities,
South Africa
argues, the
current
language of
the US drafted
resolution
would
inevitably
imply that the
TNC is now the
legitimate
authority.
Others
argue that
if such a "we
do not
recognize"
line were
added, other
Council
members would
act for their
own line, "we
DO recognize
the TNC."
South
Africa
points to a
meeting
Thursday of
the African
Union -- click
here for Inner
City Press analysis of
UN report
sources say
tells Ban
Ki-moon he
"can't count
on the AU"
-- and says it
will
know more
after that.
The
timing of the
vote called
for in the
Security
Council, 3 pm,
does not
appear to be
based on
deference to
AU decision
making. A
spokesman for
the US Mission
was asked if
the
timing was so
that US
official Bill
Burns could
announce the
$1.5
billion at a
Libya Contact
Group meeting
in Istanbul.
He reiterated
that it is
because the
needs are
urgent.
South
Africa's
Sangqu told
the press that
until Tuesday
there were
other
countries
with holds on
the proposal
the US put
forward on
August 8.
Sangqu
& Susan
Rice in May: who summoned
who in to vote
on Libya?
Sangqu did
not name the
other
countries, and
the US Mission
spokesman,
when
asked, only
emphasized
that now South
Africa's is
the only hold.
So
this can
be viewed as a
strong arming
to implicitly
recognize the
TNC, using
urgent needs
-- and South
Africa's
seeming
isolation --
as tools. Or
it can be
called
muscular
diplomacy.
There are, of
course, the
needs....
One deep
background
here was the
claim in a New
York Times
article about
the voting on
Resolution
1973, that US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
went and found
Sangqu and
shepherded him
into the
Council to
vote on the
resolution,
an account
which South
Africa
understandably
took unbrage
at....
Footnote:
Sangqu
emphasized
that "Libya is
an African
country," and
an AU member.
Inner City
Press is
informed that
only yesterday
did
Libya's
representation
at the AU
"change sides"
from
Gaddafi to the
TNC. Watch
this site --
and click
here for
Inner City
Press analysis
of in-fighting
at the UN on
"post-conflict"
Libya.
, 
in