On
Aid,
Australia Says
Syria Never
Complained of
UN Convoys,
Turkish Issues
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 26 --
After UN
Humanitarian
chief Valerie
Amos briefed
the Security
Council about
Syria on June
26, Australian
Permanent
Representative
Gary Quinlan
came out of
the Council to
speak to the
press about a
pending draft
resolution on
humanitarian
access.
Quinlan
said,
“we understand
the Syrian
government has
never made one
single
complaint to
the UN
anything other
than
humanitarian
material
was in any
convoy, any
humanitarian
convoy into
the country.”
Inner
City Press
remembered
there had been
an issue with
a convoy from
Turkey, and an
hour later
asked
Australia's
Mission to the
UN:
I
want to make
sure I
understand
something --
Ambassador
Quinlan seemed
to be saying
there have not
been any
issues with
anything other
than
humanitarian
material in
any
humanitarian
convoy into
Syria. I
remembered
something,
then looked up
and found:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/fr/contents/articles/security/2014/05/turkey-syria-air-attack-humanitarian-convoy-lessons.html
and,
Al
Jazeera:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/turkish-police-raid-charity-aiding-syria-201411411543616402.html
in
January
2014 "security
forces had
stopped a
truck loaded
with
arms and
ammunition on
the Syrian
border and
arrested three
people,
including a
Syrian. The
drivers
claimed they
were carrying
aid on
behalf of IHH,
but the
organisation
denied the
allegations as
'slanderous.'
Interior
Minister Efkan
Ala also
denied the
reports,
saying the
truck was
shipping aid
to the Turkmen
community...
IHH
press
coordinator
Serkan Nergis
said Tuesday's
early-morning
operation was
launched by
local
counter-terrorism
units."
My
question: is
it that the
above-quoted
report is not
taken
seriously,
or that Syria
never filed a
complaint
about it with
the UN?
The
Australian
Mission,
through
Chelsey
Martin, to its
credit quickly
replied:
“Ambassador
Quinlan’s
remarks
referred to
United Nations
convoys and,
as he
stated, there
have been no
complaints
made to the UN
that their
humanitarian
convoys have
contained
non-humanitarian
goods.”
Does
this mean that
any pending
resolution
would only
apply to
“United
Nations”
convoys? Other
issues: some
say that Iraq,
long trying to
get out from
under Chapter
7 of the UN
Charter, “has
issues” with
another
Chapter 7
resolution
naming it.
Apparently not
to be named is
Lebanon. Watch
this site.
* * *
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