On Al
Nusra, Brahimi
Says Extremism
is
Underestimated,
As UN
Pre-Clears
Media
UNITED
NATIONS, April
19 -- When
Lakhdar
Brahimi
emerged Friday
after three
hours with the
UN Security
Council, he
announced he
was not
resigning.
Inner City
Press asked
him about his
relationship
with the
Arab League,
and why he
hadn't gone to
its Doha
summit in late
March
(when Syria's
seat was given
to the
opposition.)
This
Brahimi did
not answer, at
least not in
English. But
when Inner
City
Press asked
him about the
Al Nusra Front
links with or
loyalty to Al
Qaeda, he
stopped and
answered at
some length.
He
said that
extremism is
under-estimated.
He said that
it shows the
need to solve
Syria's
problems,
before
extremism
flourishes
more.
He
also said he
sees no need
for a “Brahimi
plan,” only a
“Syrian
plan.”
Transcript
below.
Afterward,
Inner
City Press
spoke with
Algeria's
Permanent
Representative,
who
said not only
did his
country
abstain and
express
reservations
at the
Arab League
giving Syria's
seat to the
opposition,
but he's said
the
same thing
here at the UN
in New York,
on the pending
General
Assembly
resolution
drafted by
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and
others.
(Inner
City Press first
reported on
the resolution,
and put online
the
drafts, here.)
Before
Brahimi even
came out to
speak, the
spokesman of
the Department
of
Political
Affairs
played, well,
politics. He
announced that
he had
already
decided which
media would
get questions,
and in what
order.
Before
arriving at
this list, he
had not asked
all UN
accredited
media, or even
all of those
present. So
how did he
decide?
He
made a point
of calling on
Voice of
America, which
is run* by the
US
State
Department,
where DPA
chief Jeffrey
Feltman used
to work. He
also called on
Reuters,
which asked
about Brahimi
agreeing to
stay on
for three
months:
"Why did you
decide to
say on for
only three
months?"
Brahimi
asked,
Who told you
that?
Good
question. This
was considered
the big scoop,
and Brahimi
himself
said, this is
the first I
hear about it.
But
the UN trying
to pre-select
the media that
can ask
questions is
inappropriate.
Inner
City Press, and
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access, FUNCA, will have more on this. Watch
this site.
* -
Footnote:
That Voice of
America is run
by the US
State
Department was
made
clear to us
last year,
through
ongoing
Freedom of
Information
Act
requests to
its
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors
which revealed
that
when VOA
asked the UN
to review the
accreditation
of
Inner City
Press out, VOA
said it had
the support
of Agence
France Presse
and Reuters.
It is in the
context
that DPA's
pre-screening
is
particularly
inappropriate.
Now other
FOIA requests
are pending:
watch this
site.
Fast
transcript
by a friend on
Inner City
Press:
I
just briefed
the
council.
The way the UN
works these
days you
already know
what I've
said. I think
I have
probably said
practically
the same
things I've
said every
time.
Situation is
extremely bad
and we need
action from
the
council.
Last time,
inaudible made
some very
precise
suggestions to
the council. I
have repeated
the this time.
I have also
indicated the
opposition and
the government
have got to
accept to come
to
negotiations
and both sides
have got to
accept that
this
negotiations
are
necessary.
Why have you
only decided
to stay on for
3 more months?
I have
not resigned.
Every day I
wake up, I
think I should
resign. But I
haven't so
far. One day,
perhaps I will
resign and you
are sure you
will find out.
But for the
moment I have
not resigned.
And it is the
first time
that I hear
that I'm
staying for 3
months or less
or more. There
is no
foundation for
any of that.
Any other
questions
about Syria
rather than
about myself?
Syria is
important, not
me.
To what extent
have you been
asked by the
SG in trying
to persuade
the Syrian
government to
allow the
chemical
weapons team
to enter?
I haven't been
asked to do
that.
On Arab League
do you have
any opinion as
to whether
it's helpful
or not that
the Arab
League
officially
recognized the
Syrian
opposition?
Everybody in
the Arab
league tells
me it isn't.
You say people
in the Arab
League tell
you it isn't,
but how from
your point as
a facilitator
how has it
impacted you,
undermining
your position?
Previously you
said you've
had no plan,
do you have a
plan? What
will it take
for a break
through?
I
have said to
the council
that at the
beginning I
used to say
that I had no
plan because I
didn't know
enough. Now I
know a great
deal about
Syria. And now
I think there
is no need for
a Brahimi
plan. There is
a need for a
Syrian plan. I
tried to do
that through
discussions
with the
Syrians, both
sides and
through
discussions
with the
Security
Council and
its members
and especially
the Americans
and the
Russians. With
the Syrians, I
got nowhere.
With the
Security
Council, the
Americans and
the Russians,
we made some
progress but
it was far too
little. I'm
very happy the
Russians and
the Americans
are talking to
one
another.
I'm very happy
that form the
discussions
we've just
heard the
Security Council
is very, very
much now aware
that this is
an extremely
serious
problem as a
matter of
fact, the most
serious
crisis. And if
they really
believe there
are in charge
of looking at
the peace and
security,
there is no
time for them
to loose to
really take
this question
more seriously
have until
now.
With Al-Nousra
having ties or
links to Al
Qaeda, how
does it change
your work?
It
doesn't change
my work. What
I have said is
that this is
serious. That
every body had
underestimated
the importance
of extremism
and that the
way to fight
or protect
Syria and the
rest of the
world from
extremism is
once again to
solve the
problem. When
a problem is
so, in a
situation like
the Syrian
problem is,
more violence,
more
destructions,
society is
being
broken.
In a situation
like this,
extremism
flourishes. So
if you want
extremism to
stop
flourishing,
there is only
one way of
doing it. That
is genuinely
helping bring
this war to an
end.
* * *
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