By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 16 --
After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
Wednesday
belatedly
confirmed his
selection as
envoy on Syria
chemical
weapons of
Sigrid Kaag of
the
Netherlands,
and as noted
by Inner City
Press Shell
Oil, his
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
spoke of at
least three
other envoys
fanning out on
the topic.
Jeffrey
Feltman
was said to be
in Moscow,
meeting with
Russian Deputy
Foreign
Ministers
Gatilov and
Bogdanov.
Earlier on
Monday the
Russian press
quoted an
unnamed senior
UN official
that the
so-called
Geneva Two
talks on Syria
will take
place in the
second half of
November.
But
with whom?
Deputy
Joint Special
Representative
Nasser
al-Kidwa is
said to be
headed to
Turkey to meet
with the
Syrian
opposition.
Inner City
Press asked,
does this mean
Syrian
National
Coalition
"president"
Ahmad al
Jarba, with
whom Ban met
at his house
in September?
(And who
held a faux
"UN briefing"
in the
clubhouse
given to
Ban's UN
Censorship
Alliance UNCA
in July.)
Now 70 groups
in Syria have
said he has no
legitimacy.
From
the UN's
Wednesday noon
briefing
transcript:
Inner
City Press:
Thanks,
Martin. I
understand
that he said
that Mr.
[Nasser]
al-Kidwa is
going to go to
Turkey and
speak with, I
guess, the
opposition. I
wanted, in
that context,
to ask you:
there has been
a second
announcement,
this time by
70 of the
armed groups,
saying that
they reject
specifically
by name the
Syrian
National
Coalition and
its
leadership.
And it seems
like the Free
Syrian Army is
trying to say
they are not
being
rejected, but
the Coalition
should listen
more to the
people
actually
inside Syria.
So, I am
wondering,
those are two
groups, there
are other
groups, who is
he going to
meet with and
also generally
what is the
Secretariat’s
view given
this new
announcement
of the Syrian
National
Coalition as a
sort of a
major
interlocutor,
as a
representative
for the Syrian
opposition?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, we’ve
said all along
and the
Secretary-General
himself has
said,
including when
he met the
head of the
Syrian
National
Coalition, Mr.
[Ahmed]
al-Jarba, that
it is
absolutely
vital that
there should
be a single
delegation
representing
the
opposition.
And that there
should be as
much outreach
to the various
parts of the
opposition —
and we all
know the
difficulties
that there are
— that there
should be that
outreach with
the intention
of coming to
Geneva in the
middle of
November with
one team
representing
the
opposition.
And it is Mr.
al-Kidwa’s
role as part
of what the
Secretary-General
described as
working at all
levels to
reach out to
the opposition
there. And of
course, there
will be other
contacts; Mr.
[Lakhdar]
Brahimi is
also going to
be in the
region, and
therefore,
able to
interact with
various
players, too.
And as we have
repeatedly
said, no one
is suggesting
this will be
easy. It is
extremely
difficult.
Those
countries with
influence on
the different
parties are
also playing
their role,
too.
Inner
City Press:
Thanks a lot,
one follow-up:
while Mr.
al-Jarba was
here, there
had just been
an
announcement
by some groups
and now there
seems to be a
larger group
of armed
groups and
opposition
saying that he
doesn’t
represent
them. So, is
it going in
the right
direction?
Does the UN
view the
Syrian
National
Coalition as a
central thing
to build a
unified Geneva
II presence
around or are
they looking
for something
else?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Look,
ultimately, it
is for the
Syrian people
to decide the
format, under
which umbrella
and so on.
What the
Secretary-General
has made
clear, and Mr.
Brahimi, is
that, from
their
perspective,
it is crucial
that there
should be a
unified single
delegation
representing
the
opposition, in
the same way
that there
will be a
single
delegation
representing
the Syrian
Government.
In
fact, it seems
unlikely Jarba
could do it.
Who else is
Kidwa in touch
with? We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
While
Ban Ki-moon
and his
entourage
showed up at
Wednesday's
noon briefing,
he and Sigrid
Kaag each made
statements but
took no
questions at
all. The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info
has questioned
this practice
and now asks:
if Kaag says
her "first
press
encounter"
will be in the
Hague, what
was it that
happened on
Wednesday? A
glorified
photo-op in
the UN noon
briefing, with
the
journalists as
extras?
, 
