On
Libya
Frozen Assets,
US Drops "TNC"
for "Relevant
Authorities,"
Only 13 of 15
Show Up for
Syria
Sanctions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 25 --
After a standoff
on whether
$1.5 billion
in
frozen Libya
funds would be
released to
the National
Transitional
Council,
the US on
Thursday
agreed to
amend its
unfreezing
request to
drop
references to
the NTC (or
TNC as the US
and some
others call
it)
and replaced
it with the
phrase
"relevant
authorities."
US
officials
including charge
d'affaires
Rosemary
DiCarlo
insisted that
it makes
no difference,
that the money
will now be
released
precises as
the US
requested it.
Ambassador
Susan Rice
issued a statement
that did not
mention the
change,
"welcom[ing]
the decision
by the UN
Security
Council's
Libya
Sanctions
Committee to
release $1.5
billion
dollars in
Libyan assets
to meet the
critical
humanitarian
needs of the
Libyan
people."
A
representative
of the chair
of the Libya
Sanctions
Committee,
when asked if
any of the
money could be
given directly
to the TNC,
referred to
this as a
detail.
Pressed on the
issue, he
gestured at charge
DiCarlo.
South
Africa had
put a hold on
the two thirds
of the amount
that were not
labeled as
"humanitarian,"
saying that
the African
Union had not
yet
ruled that the
TNC is, well,
the "relevant
authority."
But
in response to
the US amended
request, South
Africa removed
its hold.
The
press swirled
around outside
the Security
Council,
listening
first to
Rosemary
DiCarlo and
then South
Africa's Baso
Sangqu, both
off camera.
Sangqu
took issue
with some
media coverage
in the past 24
hours which
described
South Africa
as "blocking
aid." He
pointed out
that South
Africa had
gone out of
its way, even
during the
dispute,
to say that
the $500
million in
humanitarian
aid could be
released.
The
US, then,
insisted it
must be a
"package deal"
-- the whole
$1.5
billion, with
references to
the TNC. Now
the number is
the same, but
the name is
different.
In
a parallel
universe, when
meetings were
called on the
Syria
sanctions
draft
resolution, in
the late
morning at the
experts level
and at 3 pm at
the level of
Permanent
Representatives,
European
representatives
told
Inner City
Press that
Russia and
China did not
attend either.
But,
some wonder,
is the point
of the
resolution's
sponsors to
get more than
nine votes
and call the
question,
triggering one
or two vetoes?
We'll see.
, 
in