On
Syria,
Arria Meeting
Said to Lack
Hard
Information,
ICI
Pleads for
Kofi Annan's
Support?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 22 --
Outside the
German
sponsored
closed door
meeting
on Syria on
Thursday
afternoon, a
range of
Security
Council
members
complained
about what
took place
inside at the
briefing by
the three
members of the
International
Commission of
Inquiry on
Syria, led by
Paulo
Pinheiro.
Some
had already
expressed
skepticism at
the ICI's
information,
given that
they never
gained access
to the country
and instead
relied, in
their words,
on
Skype and UN
staff. But
several
diplomats who
are
unequivocally
anti-Assad
nevertheless
expressed
frustration at
the trio, and
meeting.
"They
like to
talk too
much," one
Permanent
Representative
complained to
Inner
City Press as
the meeting
stretched into
the time the
Council was
supposed to
consider the coup
d'etat
in Mali.
Another
more
specific
complaint is
that the ICI
seemed to
think that
Kofi Annan
should focus
on them and
their access.
Please, one
Permanent
Representative
said, who do
these people
think they
are?
Inner City
Press
responded that
it may well be
a good thing
to remind the
UN Joint
Special Envoy
of the
importance of
including
human rights
monitoring
-- the
Security
Council, for
example,
neglected to
include it in
the UNISFA
peacekeeping
mission they
authorized in
Abyei. But the
perception of
the three
Commissioners
engaging in
self-serving
lobbying for
themselves
remains.
Germany
scheduled
the so-called
Arria formula
meeting, but
barely
publicized it.
Inner
City Press
learned of it
on Tuesday
night outside
the Nowruz or
Iranian New
Year event in
the General
Assembly Hall.
Even then,
French Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Martin Briens
told Inner
City
Press he
hadn't heard
about it.
Unlike another
recent Arria
formula
meeting, it
was not listed
in the UN
Journal; nor
was it in the
UN Media
Alert. This
may not be the
fault of the
German
Mission's
communications
staff. But it
happened.
On
Wednesday
Inner
City Press
asked German
Permanent
Representative
Peter Wittig
why it
had been so
quiet. He did
not answer the
question. He
and he alone
issued a copy
of this own
remarks after
the meeting.
"It's a
show," another
Council member
said. But a
show for what?
Inner
City Press
asked this
month's
Council
president Mark
Lyall Grant of
the UK about
it:
Inner
City
Press: This
Arria formula
meeting was
held. Just as
a kind of
matter of
working
methods or
transparency,
I don’t know
if you were
there, but as
the
Presidency, is
it possible to
know what the
questions
were, some
idea of what
impact it may
have on the
Council’s
thinking on
Syria, this
Arria formula
that took
place today?
Amb
Lyall
Grant: I
wasn’t
personally at
the arria
meeting so I
don’t
want to
comment in
detail, but
you raise an
important
question,
which
is that it was
an Arria
meeting, it
was to hear a
briefing form
the
Commissioners
of Inquiry on
the situation
in Syria, Mr
Pinheiro and
two colleagues
and there was
a lively
discussion
between the
Commissioners
and members of
the Security
Council, but I
won’t give
you more
details
because I
don’t have
more details
myself yet.
Later
Thursday at a
Pakistan Day
reception on
65th Street
which Lyall
Grant
attended, the
complaints
continued.
"They're
really
over-confident
in the
information
they claim to
have," one
well place
Council member
told Inner
City Press
over rice and
spicy chicken.
"This was
Germany's show
and that's how
they ran it."
Pakistan's
show,
as it were,
garnered a
huge UN
turnout, with
the head of
G-77
greeting the
PGA, the
Permanent
Representatives
of Caribbean
States,
Mongolia and
Turkey among
many others
mixing it up
under high
ceilings while
limousine
idled outside.
There was
Pakistan's
former
Ambassador
Akram, now
said to be
based in
Geneva, with
an oil
company. There
were Pakistani
TV stations,
interviewing
all and
sundry. Only
at the UN.
Watch this
site.
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