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At
UN,
Open Meeting on Syria after Statement Blocked- by Lebanon, Sources Say
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 27 -- On Syria, when diplomats emerged from the UN
Security Council Wednesday afternoon to say there was no consensus
that the Council should issue a press statement,
many assumed it was
Russia, and perhaps China, which had inside blocked the statement.
Russia,
it is
true, last week blocked a statement on Yemen. Inside the Council, the
Russians ultimately blamed it on the leak of the draft statement,
which Inner City Press exclusively published while Russia said it was
waiting for instructions.
But
in explanation
of the blockage Wednesday afternoon, which triggered an open meeting
of the Council, well placed sources tell Inner City Press it was
Lebanon which said in consultation it had instruction not to agree to
a press statement of any kind.
This,
a source
said, is Syria's position. A Council Press Statement requires all 15
to agree, so without Lebanon it would not be possible. Watch this site
* * *
At
UN, As US Said to Want Fingerpointing at Assad of Syria, Lebanon
Between
Iran & Hard Place
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 26, updated -- Amid buzz about
Syria at the UN Security Council
Tuesday afternoon, Syria's Permanent Representative went into the
Council, followed by a diplomat from Kim Jong-Il's Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
The
draft press
statement circulated on Monday, sources tell Inner City Press, only
referred to violence in Syria, without naming the government. The US,
which is now on the record opposing Syria for the UN Human Rights
Council, is said to want more direct finger pointing at the Assad
government.
This
would make
Russian and Chinese opposition all the more certain. Lebanon, too,
unlike on Yemen where it wanted a statement, is queasy about
criticism of domineering immediate neighbor Syria, and more distant
influencer Iran.
Within the UN
Secretariat, there is a debate about trying to send an envoy as was
done to Yemen. But a similar attempt to send Oscar Fernandez Tarranco
of the Department of Political Affairs to Bahrain was shot down.
Is Ban, even with this "Good Offices" power, running scared?
When the
Security Council let out past 5 pm, Ambassador Cabral of Portugal told
the Press that it will be discussed tomorrow. Asked if the statement he
introduced can be adopted, he said "I hope so."
Update: Syria's
Permanent Representative came and took a dozen questions. Inner City
Press asked if Assad would accept an envoy from the UN, as Yemen did.
No, he answered, it is too early.
Update of 6:26 pm - When Susan Rice
finally took two questions, her spokesman had pre-selected the first,
then pulled the plug after the second.
Update of 6:41 pm -
the Arab Group met in the Security Council, heard from Lebanon expert.
Exiting, a diplomat told Inner City Press that after Lynn Pascoe's
briefing Wednesday afternoon on Syria, if there is no agreement on the
draft press statement, an open meeting will be requested at which each
member will have to make public its position, "so it doesn't die on the
vine like the Yemen statement." We'll see.
Ban & Assad, no UN envoy (or UNSC press statement) shown
The
reasoning
of the US, and its accommodation of Lebanon's position,
were not immediately clear: the US Mission to the UN sent a heads-up
of Ambassador Susan Rice's press availability to only some in the UN
press corps.
The
US position
was also unclear on the pending Western Sahara resolution. Susan Rice
“holds the pen” on that, but her position on the jurisdiction of
Moroccan rights bureaucracy over Western Sahara, a major issue for
the African Union, is not known. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN
on
Syria, “Watered Down” Proposal for
Tuesday, Under Yemen Precedent
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
25 -- Amid the crackdown in Syria, among the members
of the UN Security Council in New York a draft statement was
circulated Monday morning.
In
front of the
Council Monday afternoon, the Press asked entering Ambassadors what
they thought about the draft. “What do you think?” US Deputy
Permanent Representative Rosymary Dicarlo said. (She later told Inner
City Press that she'd been joking).
Lebanon's
Permanent
Representative
Nawaf Salam said, “That's for tomorrow,
not today.” Later another member's Permanent Representative
predicted that the Arab League, and thus presumably Lebanon, would be
urging to go slow on Syria -- unlike their request on
Yemen.
Even
the
Permanent
Representative of one of the countries which introduced
the proposal told Inner City Press on Monday evening that the draft
is “watered down,” and said their country would prefer a
“Security Council debate on Syria, to send a message.”
But
it is unclear
what message will be sent. Also on Monday evening, Chinese Permanent
Representative Li Baodong told Inner City Press that China is
concerned about issues getting put so quickly onto the Security
Council agenda.
He
pointed at the rejection
last week in the Council of a draft statement on Yemen,
noting that after that, President Saleh reportedly reached an
agreement with the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. Under this
agreement, which Saleh's own statements have since called into
question, Saleh would leave power in exchange for immunity for
himself and his family.
One
cannot imagine,
at least at this point, Assad leaving in this way. Council members
were told to get instructions and, on that basis, respond to the
draft by 10 am on April 26. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN
on
Yemen,
Russia Blocks Lebanese & German Security Council
Statement Supporting
GCC
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
19
-- When the UN Security Council got a briefing
on
Yemen on April 19, a statement was proposed by Germany and
Lebanon. But it was not agreed to.
Inner
City
Press
has
seen the proposed statement, and it is very simple:
“The
members of the Security Council heard a briefing from... on the
situation in Yemen.
“They
expressed their concern at the political crisis in Yemen, and called
on the parties to exercise restraint and to enter into a
comprehensive dialogue to realize the legitimate aspirations of the
Yemeni people.
“They
also expressed their full support to the mediation role of the Gulf
Cooperation Council.”
A
Western
spokesperson told the Press pointedly that “the usual suspects”
had blocked this simple statement by saying that they needed
instructions from their capitals. Other sources in the Council,
however, reduce the suspects to a single one: Russia.
They
describe
a
standoff
between the second and third highest diplomats in Russia's
Mission to the UN -- top ambassador Vitaly Churkin was not involved
-- and Lebanon's Permanent Representative Nawaf Salam.
The
Russians,
they say, asked Salam why Lebanon wasn't taking the anti-statement
position. Salam in turn raised his voice, saying that Russia should
be following the Arab countries' lead, and that Russia's Ambassador
in Beirut would to asked to explain why not.
Inner
City
Press
will
venture this explanation: Russia sees the GCC as a pro-American
grouping and does not want to support it.
Ban & Saleh, previously, Russia and 2d term not shown
Another
Western
spokesman,
on
background, said that the real purpose of the briefing
was to provide support to the Gulf Cooperation Council mediation in
Yemen. A well placed UN source told Inner City Press this was
wishful thinking, that the GCC process would need outside support or
“content.”
The
reason for the
Western countries deferring to the GCC, he said, was that “probably
only a GCC country would be willing to take Yemen's president” Ali
Abdullah Saleh if
he stepped down.
While
the
UN
Secretariat
seems to feel positive about the Security Council session
and that it could do more in Yemen than the GCC can, others predict
that Russia will not get instructions for the rest of the shortened
week, and the statement will die. The questions is whether this is
another thing Russia will admonish Ban Ki-moon about during his
upcoming visit there. We'll see. Watch this site.
Footnote:
As
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice left the meeting, she was asked if Syria
had also been discussed. “No,” he said. Why not? Because the
topic was Yemen, she said as she left. But Syria did come up in the
Security Council during Monday's “horizon” briefing by Lynn
Pascoe. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Yemen
Taken
Up
by Security Council, Syria Discussed But No Bahrain,
Under Ban Envoy Litmus Test
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
18
--
While Yemen wasn't listed as a topic for the
Security Council's “horizon” briefing on Monday, once UN
Department of Political Affairs chief Lynn Pascoe mentioned it,
several members asked to have more information.
And
so on April 19
at 3:30 pm there will be a separate Security Council briefing devoted
to Yemen. German Ambassador Wittig told Inner City Press that the
situation in Yemen raises regional issues, including piracy.
Inner
City
Press
asked
Wittig
if Germany would like Syria, which also discussed in the
horizon briefing, to ascend to the Security Council agenda. Wittig
said that Germany is concerned, that an eye should be kept on Syria.
Another
Council
member's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative said that the Yemen briefing
was okay because “he” -- Pascoe or Ban Ki-moon -- sent an envoy
there, “so let's hear what he has to say.”
So
if Syria
accepted an envoy, it too would be discussed in the Security Council?
This puts Ban not pushing for an envoy -- Oscar Fernandez Tarranco --
to Bahrain in a different light.
We
will have more
on Yemen, where the capital city is said to be split in two with a
renegade general in control of half. Watch this site.
Click
for Mar 1, '11
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption
Click
here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12
debate
on
Sri
Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis
here
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