On
Syria,
Division of
Labor to Block
Statements,
Aid
Bazaar, 4
NGOs on
Ice
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 27 –
After the
Security
Council got
Syria
humanitarian
briefings on
Wednesday
morning, the
briefers and
then
Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari came
out to speak
take questions
from the
press.
Inner
City Press
asked the UN's
top
humanitarian
Valerie Amos
not only
about Syria --
how many
international
NGOs have
gotten in and
how
many are
waiting -- but
also about
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
states in The
Sudan.
Amos
confirmed the
three
additional
NGOs allowed
in -- Mercy
Corps, NRC
and Merlin --
adding that
seven more
groups are
waiting, which
she
would not name
since they are
still being
considered.
Inner
City Press
asked Syria's
Ja'afari about
it and he said
that three of
the seven are
being
considered. So
who are the
other four?
Ja'afari
also
complained
that the UN
Secretariat of
Ban Ki-moon
took three
full months to
distribute an
“urgent”
letter he had
turned in
with the names
of 143
international
terrorists. In
Arabic he
complained
about Reuters
and the New
York Times. He
said the draft
press
statement
about the car
bombing in
Damascus that
was blocked
was a shame.
Inner
City Press
asked if it
was only the
US which
blocked, or
more.
Ja'afari said
there is a
“division of
labor,” that
Germany when
it was on the
Council used
to block,
along with the
UK and France.
Ja'afari
called
the pledging
conference for
Syria a
“bazaar,” with
Saudi
Arabia
immediately
undercutting
its own
pledge, saying
the money had
already been
given.
UN
sexual
violence in
conflict
expert Bangura
told Inner
City Press
that
the
talked-about
UK team of
specialists is
“on the
ground,” but
she did not
yet have
information.
Inner
City Press
asked her
about the UN's
failure to act
yet, under its
Human Rights
Due Diligence
policy, on the
126 rapes by
its partners
in the
Congolese army
in Minova in
November. She
replied that
she is
about to visit
the Congo, as
she did the
Central
African
Republic.
Will she bring
implementation?
The
representative
of UNHRC told
Inner City
Press that its
communications
with Jordan
are good. They
better be --
the government
has discussed
closing its
borders in the
future to
those who may
flee
reprisals.
Watch this
site.
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