At
UN,
Yemen Draft
Would "Embrace
Immunity for
Saleh" Via GCC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 17 --
While a draft
resolution on
Yemen seems
more
likely to pass
the UN
Security
Council than
the
double-vetoed
proposal about
Syria, the
reason may be
that the Yemen
proposal not
only is
supported by
the United
States, but
implicitly
accepts
immunity for
the leader,
Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
Operative
Paragraph
5 of the Yemen
draft, as seen
by Inner City
Press, calls
on the
parties in
Yemen to move
forward and
implement a
transition "on
the basis" of
the Gulf
Cooperation
Council
initiative.
This GCC
initiative
involves
immunity for
Saleh, not
only at the
International
Criminal Court
in The Hague,
but even
immunity from
prosecution in
Yemen itself.
Well
placed
sources tell
Inner City
Press that the
US was largely
responsible
for
the GCC plan,
and "now urges
the Security
Council to
endorse its
plan in a
resolution the
UK's drafted,"
as source
source put it,
continuing
that "Obama
wants to see
his call for
Saleh to leave
carried out,
despite the
remaining
support and
military force
Saleh
has in the
country. The
only way is to
offer
immunity, and
hope few
notice or
complain."
The
problem is
that one of
the major
demands of the
non-violent
protesters in
the
streets of
Yemen is to
bring Saleh to
court.
Some
assumed that
opposition
groups in
Syria would
have applauded
a Security
Council
resolution,
even if as
"watered down"
as US
Ambassador
Rice
described it
no sanctions
were imposed
or even
directly
threatened on
Bashar Assad.
But
in Yemen
opposition
groups might
speak out
against a
Security
Council
resolution
endorsing the
"immunity
plan," as it
is called.
And the new
Nobel Peace
Prize winner
from Yemen
Tawakkul
Karman might
also
denouncing,
using new
found
prominence,
such an
embrace of
immunity
for Saleh.
Saleh
& Ban
Ki-moon, GCC
deal not
shown, nor
reports w/i 15
days, 30
thereafter
The
proponents of
the
resolution, a
new draft of
which is
slated to be
circulated,
try
to blunt this
criticism by
saying that
"the
accountability
language is
in."
But it is a
mere reference
to the word
accountability,
in the context
of referring
to the human
rights
process in
Geneva,
A/HRC/18/21.
Even on that,
the draft
drops the call
from an
"international"
investigation,
shifting back
to independent
and impartial.
Impartial
indeed. Wath
this site.
, 
