Stealth
Rights
Meeting of
UNSC Had
Western Sahara
Spat, Ladsous
Dodge
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
Feb 7, updated
Feb 8 -- While
the UN Security
Council's
meeting on
human rights
and its
peacekeeping
missions was
nearly
entirely
secret
on Tuesday,
after Inner
City Press exclusively
reported on it,
more
information
came it.
As
should have
been expected
given the
topic, a
question arose
of why the UN
mission
in Western
Sahara,
MINURSO, does
not have a
human rights
components.
This has been
proposed many
times, with
France
countering
with a
stilted phrase
in the
resolution
referring to
the "human
dimension" of
the situation.
Now,
Morocco is on
the Security
Council, and
reportedly its
representative
to the
General
Assembly's
Fourth
Committee on
Peacekeeping
pushed back
when
South Africa's
expert brought
up the issue.
The
proposer of
the meeting,
it's said,
also pushed
back. We aim
to have more
on
this.
Update:
Click here
for "press
lines" on the
meeting.
For
now we'll say
that, at least
other than on
Western
Sahara,
Moroccan
Ambassador
Loulichki and
his team have
been more
expected.
Loulichki
& LAS, on
Syria, closed
door Arria not
shown
Meanwhile
beyond
the Council's
previously
scheduled
Wednesday
morning
session on the
the UN Mission
in Kosovo,
topic of Serbian
Vuk Jeremic
who's gunning
for President
of the GA,
click here
for Inner City
Press' story
-- an
afternoon
briefing by
Ban Ki-moon
has
been set up.
Most members
expect to
focus on Ban's
travels in the
Middle East --
in which for
example he was
protested in
Gaza, and did
not meet with
families of
Palestinians
in Israeli
jails -- but
some
also want to
ask about his
appearance at
the African
Union summit
in
Addis Ababa.
There,
Ban
appeared with
what's
described as a
"huge"
entourage, and
proceeded to
blame Russia
and other
member states
for his own
failure
to take action
on the lack of
military
helicopters in
South Sudan.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
on Tuesday,
when Inner
City Press
again asked
for follow up
on UNMISS
envoy Hilde
Johnson's
promise to
provide the
date on which
she was
"subsequently"
informed
that Russian
copters would
in fact fly,
referred the
question to
DPKO
chief Ladsous.
But
Ladsous'
answer
when he
appeared at a
stakeout
Tuesday with
Congo envoy
Roger Meece
did not
provide the
answer Hilde
Johnson had
provided.
Human rights
and
peacekeeping,
indeed. Watch
this site.
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