At
UN
on Syria,
Meeting of
"Arab
Monarchies,"
Guatemala, UK,
France &
(Not)
Turkey, "New
Resolution
Coming"?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
Jan 24, updated
Jan 25, below
-- On his way
in and out of
the Security
Council
Tuesday
morning French
ambassador
Gerard Araud
was asked if
France is
working on a
new resolution
about Syria,
to supersede
the draft
Russia
introduced
last month.
We're always
working, Araud
quipped.
Later he told
the press that
the Russians'
is the only
draft.
But
a well placed
Security
Council source
told Inner
City Press
that France
has
requested a
meeting of
Security
Council allies
and "select
Arab
countries --
the less
democratic
ones," listing
Saudi Arabia,
the United
Arab Emirates,
Jordan and
Qatar, along
with allies
including
Council
members
Colombia and
Guatemala and
notably
non-Council
member Turkey.
Referring
to the
escalating
dispute
between Paris
and Ankara
about France's
Armenian
genocide
denial
legislation,
one wage asked
Araud if there
would be a
Turkish -
French text.
That's not a
UN issue,
Araud said,
yet.
Council
sources
predict that a
new draft
resolution on
Syria would
emerge, late
this week or
Monday. But
would it still
be vetoed?
Update
of 4:10 pm --
meanwhile, a
BRICS meeting
at the
Permanent
Representative
level convened
inside the
Security
Council suite
of rooms, with
the Perm Reps
of China and
India walking
in. One told
Inner City
Press that the
Russian draft
is the draft,
and that the
Arab League
mission should
be extended
for another
month. Inner
City Press
asked, what
about the GCC
countries
dropping out?
The
representative
said there are
other in the
Arab League
who want to
continue.
We'll see.
Update
of January 25
-- Outside Ban
Ki-moon's
Q&A with
member states,
closed to the
press, Inner
City Press was
told by two
diplomats that
Turkey
affirmatively
did NOT attend
the French
convened
meeting;
France's
Armenian
genocide law
was cited, as
well as French
"arrogance."
See
also Inner
City Press' BRICS story,
here.
Earlier,
UK
ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant said, "we
are
having
consultations
with our Arab
colleagues
here...further
consultations
today, both on
the timing of
a briefing
from Mr
Al-Araby and
the Qatari
Prime
Minister, and
on a Security
Council
response to
the request
for support
from the Arab
League.”
Sources say
Monday
evening's
meeting was
Permanent
Representatives,
along with the
Arab League's
UN
representative;
Tuesday's at
the expert
level.
At
Tuesday's noon
press
briefing,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky said
that Ban spoke
Monday by
phone with
Arab League
Secretary
General Al
Arabi, but
said that no
letter had yet
been
received.
Twenty minutes
later
Nesirky's
office said a
letter was
received, but
provided no
further
information.
A
European
Council
member's
spokesperson
said the
Council should
hear from Al
Arabi and "the
Qatari prime
minister, but
not from Al
Dabi,"
the Sudanese
head of the
Arab League
mission to
Syria.
Al Dabi, of
course, was a
Sudanese
military
figure active
in the Darfur
conflict
which has
given rise to
International
Criminal Court
indictments
against
Sudanese
officials
including
president Omar
al Bashir.
(c) UN photo
Araud &
former
spokesman:
picking Arab
partners, vive
le roi?
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky,
for the second
day in a row,
about photographs
of the
UN - African
Union envoy to
Darfur Ibrahim
Gambari
attending a
wedding
reception in
Khartoum and
greeting Omar
al Bashir
in the past
week, despite
his ICC
indictment for
genocide.
Nesirky
claimed to
still have
have seen the
photographs,
said he still
had nothing on
it.
The UN has
said it only
deals with ICC
indictees when
"necessary."
Was attending
this reception
for the
wedding
of Idriss Deby
and the
daughter of
Darfur
janjaweed
militia leader
Musa Hilal
"necessary"?
Watch this
site.
, 
