Before
Syria Vote, UN
Journal Has
Sanctions
& Assad
Must Go Saudi
Draft
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 2/3 --
Very late
Thursday
night, on the
eve of the
scheduled
Friday morning
General
Assembly vote
on Saudi
Arabia's draft
resolution
about Syria,
the UN Journal
went online
with a link to
a version of
the resolution
that reverted
to including
sanctions and
a call for
Bashar al
Assad to step
down.
These are
points that
Saudi Arabia
and others
have raced
around saying
have been
removed,
including to
the African
Group at 6 pm
on Thursday as
exclusively
reported by
Inner City
Press.
For this
version of the
resolution to
be put
forward, on
the UN's
website, as
the one to be
voted on
within hours,
is a problem.
Already there
is talk among
those in
charge inside
the UN of
fixing the
link on Friday
morning, first
thing.
But will or
would that
really cure
the
problem?
And how could
this
happen?
The President
of the General
Assembly is
from Qatar,
which arms the
rebels in
Syria and has
declined to
answer Inner
City Press
questions
about how much
has been spent
on the Qatari
presidency of
the GA.
At this PGA's
direction, UN
Television has
been turned
off just as
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari began
to speak. When
this happened
a second time,
Stephane
Durarric of
the UN took
the blame
(while Inner
City Press had
and published
the name of
the official
who actual
gave UN TV the
order to turn
off).
So what will
happen now?
Watch this
site.
Thursday
August 2
between 5 and
6 pm, the
Saudi
Permanent
Representative
belatedly met
with the
African Group
on 47th
Street.
Inner
City Press,
which in
three
articles
this week
questioned why
the
Saudis met
with all
regional
groups except
Africa, heard
about the
meeting and
went to stake
it out, the
only media in
front. The
Saudi
Permanent
Representative
smiled as he
left, saying
"you are
everywhere."
African
diplomats
said "he had
to come" and
"he came just
to
say he had."
One let it be
known that the
UK has said
there are
already 120
votes for the
watered down
Saudi
resolution.
But now, at
least as
linked to in
the UN
Journal, it is
no longer
"watered
down." It has
been "watered
up."
Another
proponent
of the amended
resolution
told Inner
City Press he
expects
125 votes in
votes, while
having
projected only
70 if it had
not been
amended.
Now what? Can
the
now-confused
vote really go
forward? Watch
this site.
The watererd
down draft,
which Inner
City Press
obtained from
a well placed
member state
after 5 pm on
August 1, is
set for voting
August 3 at 11
am (not 10 am
as French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
said on camera
midday
Thursday, just
to clear that
up). Inner
City Press is putting that
draft online
here.
But online
between late
August 2 and
early August 3
was the
watered up
version --
strangely,
with a long
list of
sponsors:
Albania,
Andorra,
Australia,
Austria,
Bahrain,
Belgium,
Botswana,
Bulgaria,
Canada,
Côte
d’Ivoire,
Croatia,
Cyprus, Czech
Republic,
Denmark,
Djibouti,
Egypt,
Estonia,
Finland,
Georgia,
Germany,
Greece,
Ireland,
Italy, Japan,
Jordan,
Kuwait,
Latvia, Libya,
Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Maldives,
Monaco,
Morocco,
Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Norway, Oman,
Panama,
Poland,
Portugal,
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden,
the former
Yugoslav
Republic of
Macedonia,
Tunisia,
Turkey, United
Arab Emirates,
United Kingdom
of Great
Britain and
Northern
Ireland,
United States
of America and
Yemen: draft
resolution
The situation
in the Syrian
Arab Republic
Coming out of
the African
Group meeting
with the Saudi
Permanent
Representative
past 6 pm on
August 2, of
these Inner
City Press saw
diplomats from
among others
Cote d'Ivoire
(Permanent
Representative
Bamba),
Djibouti,
Morocco
(Deputy
Permanent
Representative),
Saudi Arabia
(Permanent
Representative)
and, one
assumes,
Egypt. Libya's
Ibrahim
Dabbashi came
out, quickly,
but Libya is
not in this
list above.
What will
happen next?
Can the vote
go forward?
Watch this
site.
, 
