UNITED
NATIONS, May
15 -- After
the Syria
resolution
drafted by
Qatar garnered
only 107 "yes"
votes on
Wednesday,
compared to
over 130 the
past two
times, many
diplomats
described it
to Inner City
Press as a
"big loss" for
Qatar, "and
for France and
the UK, the
'brains'
behind" the
resolution.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
took the floor
to try to get
a few more
votes.
Afterward a
Latin American
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
that the count
would have
been below 100
if not for
some "last
minute
arm-twisting."
Even
days before
the vote, when
Inner City
Press asked
Saudi Arabia's
affable
Permanent
Representative
if he
predicted 110
yes votes, he
said plus or
minus,
probably plus.
But it was not
to be.
The
vote Wednesday
was 107 yes,
12 against and
fully 59
abstentions.
By that count,
it seems that
15 countries
didn't vote at
all -- "got
coffee," as
one African
Permanent
Representative
put it to
Inner City
Press before
the vote.
Inner City
Press is
putting the
vote list
online here.
The
African Group
met on
Tuesday,
asking Qatar
to defer the
vote. But
Qatar rejected
this. As
Tanzania said,
while
concerned
about Syria,
it was not
convinced that
the resolution
would help
anything.
On the
drama
of Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari
waving at the
end of his
speech an
email he said
showed that
the
opposition's
"ambassador"
in Qatar was
involved in
the kidnapping
of four UN
peacekeepers
by the Yarmouk
Martyr's
Brigade, Inner
City Press ran
to the UN noon
briefing to
ask.
Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said he would
not disclose
any more about
the
negotiations
to free the
peacekeepers.
Back
in front of
the General
Assembly after
the vote,
Ja'afari
briefly showed
Inner City
Press a copy
of the e-mail,
saying he
could not give
it out. It had
on it among
other things a
telephone
number --
presumably the
number
Ja'afari read
out in the GA
Hall -- and
the word
"Milad."
Ja'afari
told
Inner City
Press it was
from a UN
person in
Damascus,
telling
headquarters
of the
involvement of
the Syrian
opposition
ambassador in
Doha in the
kidnapping.
Inner
City Press
asked, a UN
person working
for Envoy
Brahimi's
office?
Ja'afari did
not say yes.
There
is much more
to ask. Inner
City Press ran
to cover what
was called a
stakeout by UK
prime minister
David Cameron,
where it
turned out the
questioner
(Reuters, or
UNCA) -- and
the Syria
question? --
were selected
in advance.
There are
scams
everywhere.
Watch this
site.
, 
