Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

On Syria, Security Council Member Tells Lebanon That Open Meeting Wasn't a Good Idea, All Claim Victory

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- During the public session of the UN Security Council on Syria Wednesday afternoon, a handwritten notes was passed to Lebanon's Ambassador Nawaf Salam which said, as recounted to Inner City Press by its author, “Open meeting was not such a good idea after all.”

Syria, at least publicly, thinks differently. Its Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told the press after the meeting that a Western attempt to hijack the Security Council's Middle East agenda item had failed.

Inner City Press asked Ja'afari what he estimated the vote count to be in the Security Council. You know the dynamics of the Council, Ja'afari told Inner City Press, if you have the Permanent Five members you can do what you want. He emphasized that Russia and China were with him.

Ja'afari ignored and did not answer Inner City Press' question about Lebanon's position.

But sources in the Council tell Inner City Press that Lebanese Ambassador Nawaf Salam, who later received the above-quoted note, was opposed to the Council issuing any press statement on Syria.

Ban & Assad, no UN envoy (or UNSC press statement) shown

The struggle in Beirut between the Hariris' Future Movement, described by some as supporting the demonstrators in Syria, and those aligned with Hezbollah plays itself out in the positions that Salam takes in New York.

When Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud, usually voluble on Lebanon, what he made of Salam's speech and position during the Council's open meeting, Araud said to “ask Lebanon.”

Communications to Lebanon, as noted, were in writing. And in the UN Security Council things get more surreal, or UNreal, every day.

Footnotes: Araud emphasized to the press France's strategy to hold Assad to account in the UN Human Rights Council -- on which Syria is seeking a seat. The US is opposing Syria's bid, while Ja'afari on Wednesday condemned the US for giving "six million dollars... to Barada TV" based in London. (Ja'afari cited the Washington Post, after saying "don't believe media accounts.") Meanwhile Barada TV says it has an annual budget of only $1 million. We'll have more on all this. Watch this site.

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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

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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.

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.

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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.

Click for Mar 1, '11 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption

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

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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