At
Russian
UN Mission, Serbia Makes Its Case, Somalia Forgotten, Churkin
Serves Roast Beef
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 -- Serbia's Ambassador to the UN beamed at
Russia's end of Security Council presidency reception Monday night,
joking with the Ambassadors of the UK and Bosnia about his country's
controversial General Assembly resolution condemning Kosovo's
independence.
No
other country,
he told Inner City Press, broke away without consent and yet was
welcomed by such powerful friends at the United States. Where it's
done without permission -- he named Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Northern
Cyprus and Taiwan -- the countries remain in limbo. We don't want to
be the precedent.
Bosnia's
35 year
old Ambassador joked that if it were just he and the Serb, they could
work it out. The British Ambassador, also laughing, said not to count
on his support in the GA. But the Serb persisted, blaming the
presence on US President Obama's team of former Bill Clinton official
for his country's troubles.
Who,
asked Inner
City Press. Hillary Clinton, he answered. Richard Holbrooke. But
what about trying David Alexrod or Valerie Jarrett? He seemed not to
know of them, and offered thanks.
Other
talk turned
to Ethiopia's incursions into Somalia. Many had read of it, none
could confirm. US Ambassador Susan Rice walked away as fast as she
could.
Churkin back in the day, Serbian resolution, roast
beef and pilots not shown
Ambassador
Rugunda of Uganda, whose country just lost four
AMISOM peacekeepers to a grenade attack in Mogadishu, vowed to look
into it.
The spokesman
of another Council member predicted a Council
statement on the killing, perhaps on Russia's last day.
Russian
Ambassador Churkin played the host, offering dumplings and roast
beef
and mushrooms in small pots. He drank a toast with Susan Rice, and
smiling worked the room. He told Inner City Press, regarding Russia's
pilots taken in Darfur, that his job and that of Russia's envoy to
Sudan was different. He is not a diplomat, said Churkin. He is doing
his job, and I am doing mine. Good answer. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Russia Month Ends With Pilots Taken in Darfur, Congo Rape Meeting
Deferred
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 -- While Russia's envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov complains
loudly
about the second hostage taking of Russian pilots in Darfur in a
month, outgoing Security Council president Vitaly Churkin on Monday
advised the Press not to make too much of the kidnappings.
Inner City
Press asked if this was a trend. The first incident, Churkin
countered, was resolved, and the pilot
went on vacation. It was never announced who had taken him.
Still,
Churkin
said he had met Monday morning with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
about the pilots, asking for the UNAMID mission to get involved.
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the
pilots at Monday's noon briefing. Nesirky did not disclose Ban's
meeting with Churkin, which was not on Ban's schedule.
Nesirky
said, in
response to another Inner City Press question, that Ban's 10:30
meeting with Margot Wallstrom about the Congo rapes had been
postponed until the afternoon. (Atul Khare, it emerges won't be back to
brieif the Council until September 8.)
Nesirky said
the Russian pilots were working for a
private Sudanese company. But wasn't it working for UNAMID? Maybe,
Nesirky said, maybe they were transporting food for peacekeepers. It is
all murky.
One wonders
why it was never announced who took the first Russian pilot, Yevgeni
Mustovchikov, and why DPKO's Alain Le Roy never got or passed on any
"full understanding of the facts" behind the violence in the Kalma
Camp. As with the Congo rapes, lack of accountability breeds impunity
leads to repetition of the actions.
Beyond
the danger
to the pilots who are kidnapped, if as many believe government
supported militias are behind the kidnappings, could their repetition
trigger some change in Russia's position on Sudan?
We
are slow to
change our position, a Russian diplomat told Inner City Press after
the TV lights were off.
UN's Ban (& Kim) & Churkin in Red Sq. March
2010, pilots not shown
The next stop
would be Russia's End of
Presidency reception. Russia in August wanted a slow month in the
Security Council, with a small party at the end. They got the Congo
rape scandal and, it was promised, jovial gate crashers.
For
September, the
Council president passes to Turkey, who Permanent Representative has
been reviewed unfavorably, if off the record, by his Foreign
Minister. This will be his chance to shine.
In
briefings for his nation's media, the Ambassador is
known to defer to reporters, saying they know more than he does. One
cannot imagine this from Churkin. For those following the story,
former spokesman Ruslan is said to have found a better job with the
Ministry back in Moscow.
France's
Deputy
Permanent Representative Nicolas de Riviere is setting sail, to cover
international organizationss at the Quai d'Orsay. He will be replaced
by Martin Briens -- and he'll be supervising, in a sense, his old
boss Gerard Araud. It is musical chairs in the Council.
In
terms of the
next Council members coming in, South Africa says it will be running
unopposed. Some said the same of Colombia, but now there's word of
another candidate, probably from Central America and to the Left. Que
empienzan los juegos -- let the games begin. Watch this site.
, 
