At
UN on Syria,
Will Pillay
Brief on
Zintan, of
Assad's Big 6
& Kosovo
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 26 --
When the Syria
consultations
of the UN
Security
Council
ended midday
Tuesday,
Ambassadors
Gerard Araud
of France and
Vitaly Churkin
of Russia
jousted about
whether High
Commissioner
for
Human Rights
Navi Pillay
should brief
only about
Syria, or
about
Libya as well
as Russia is
requesting.
Inner
City Press
asked Churkin
about Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar Ja'afari's
statement
late Monday,
reported
by Inner City
Press, that
there are training
camps in
Zintan, Libya
which are
funded by
Qatar and
Saudi Arabia.
Churkin
replied:
"you
may
recall that I
raised that
even in the
official
meeting of the
Security
Council while
the Prime
Minister of
Libya was
here. We
believe that
if this is
true, this is
wrong. We have
heard also of
training camps
in Kosovo,
in other
places.
"This
is something
that is
directly
contrary to
Kofi Annan's
plan. From the
outset of his
activity, he
said to us
that further
militarization
of the Syrian
conflict would
be a mistake,
and would not
be in line
with his
actions. So
that of course
is very
deplorable if
this is the
case.
And of course,
Libya has so
many domestic
issues that
for them to
return to the
old Qaddafi
pattern of
exporting
revolution
would be a
tragic irony,
if you will,
of history."
As
a follow up,
Inner City
Press asked if
the UN
missions UNMIK
and UNSMIL,
run by Ian
Martin, could
have any role
in proving or
disproving the
existence of
these training
camps.
Churkin said,
"I'm
afraid
it's not their
mandate." Then
again, the
Security
Council sets
the mandates
of its
missions.
Afterward,
the
Syrian side
exclusively
told Inner
City Press
they are
counting
on at least
six votes in
the Council,
those who are
committed to a
June 30
meeting
without
preconditions:
Russia and
China, India
and
Pakistan,
Azerbaijan and
South Africa.
South
Africa will
leave the
Security
Council in
December, to
be replaced in
all likelihood
by Rwanda. How
would Rwanda
vote on this?
Then again,
a high
official in
the UN
predicted
to Inner City
Press on
June 22
that "this
will be over
in July."
Watch this
site.
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