At
UN
on Syria, As
"Security
Incident"
Clears UNSC
Chamber,
Change of
Tone?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 1,
updated -- An
hour before
its emergency
Syria meeting,
the
UN Security
Council got
cleared out.
The Press was
told to move
back
to the
elevator, then
all the way to
the General
Assembly
basement.
The meeting
was moved to
Conference
Room 6 in the
North Lawn
building.
There,
twenty
minutes before
the scheduled
5 pm start,
Inner City
Press found US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
waiting in
front of
smaller
Conference
Room C.
Word was she
was looking
for the
pre-meeting
with the
Europeans, who
sponsored the
Syria
resolution.
But they did
not show up
there.
(Separately,
Inner
City Press
wanted to know
and began to
ask why Rice,
the UK's Lyall
Grant and
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
met together
with Ban
Ki-moon
earlier on
Monday.
"Nothing to do
with the
Security
Council,"
Churkin told
Inner City
Press.)
Russia's
Churkin
said that if
the Europeans
put forward
the same
resolution as
before,
it was a non
starter. But
he noted a new
tone in
Moscow's
statement
earlier in the
day, on the
violence in
Syria.
Outside CR6,
Prez Hardeep
Singh Puri
arrives in new
venue
A
well placed
political
coordinator
said that it
would not be
possible for
Lebanon
to
conveniently
not attend, so
that a press
or
presidential
statement
could be
adopted. And
Inner City
Press saw a
Lebanese
representative
enter
Conference
Room 6.
The
buzz was of a
request for
consultations
at the highest
Permanent
Representative
level on
Tuesday, on a
resolution.
But would
Russia or
China veto?
Would India,
Brazil and
South Africa
go along?
Watch this
site.
Update
of 5:01 pm --
Germany's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
stopped and
spoke of the
March
resolution.
Inner City
Press asked if
it's the same
one still.
Updated, he
said.
* * *
At
UN
in Run-Up to
Meeting on
Syria, Brazil
Says Could
Agree to
Statement
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 1 --
With deaths in
Syria
mounting, on
July 31
outgoing UN
Security
Council
president
Germany asked
its successor
for August,
India, to
convene an
emergency for
August 1 on
Syria. At
9 am on
Monday, a
spokesman of
the German
Mission to the
UN told the
press that the
request was
granted, and
the meeting
would be at 5
pm.
In
front of the
Security
Council on
Monday
morning, Inner
City Press
asked
Brazilian
Permanent
Representative
Maria Viotti
what Brazil
expected from
the 5
pm meeting.
After meeting
with the
Indian
presidency she
said Brazil
could agree to
a Press
Statement or
Presidential
Statement on
Syria,
but not a
resolution.
Inner
City Press
has exclusively
reported that
Brazil, India
and South
Africa say
their deputy
ministers will
travel to
Damascus soon
-- "in the
coming days,"
Viotti said
Monday -- to
"engage" with
the Assad
resolution.
Western
members of the
Security
Council have
been
dismissive of
this trip.
When
France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
exited the
Security
Council after
meeting with
the Indian
presidency,
Inner City
Press asked
him if
France had
joined in
Germany's
request for
the meeting --
"yes"
was the answer
-- and told
him what
Viotti had
said.
"That's
news
to me," he
said. So news
it is. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Given
the position
Lebanon is in,
it remains
more than
possible that
it would block
any press or
presidential
statement of
the Council,
which requires
unanimity. Or,
Lebanon could
"disassociate"
itself. We'll
see.
Update
of 11:24 am --
the
Portuguese,
when the
emerged, said
that for a
Presidential
or Press
Statement,
Lebanon could
be a problem.
But they
pointed to a
precedent from
the 1956 Suez
crisis, a
statement can
be adopted
without all
members
present. Watch
this site.
, 
in