UN
Crowd for
Syria Troop
Contributing,
Ladsous Past
Velvet
Rope, EU
Outside
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 10 --
When UN Troop
Contributing
Countries met
on
Tuesday
afternoon, the
hierarchies of
priorities and
personalities
were on
display.
Ivory
Coast
TCCs met first
from 3 pm in
Conference
Room 6, with
very little
interest.
Inner City
Press set up
outside, on a
chair with a
laptop,
under the
watchful eye
of a UN
Security
officer.
But
starting
around 3:30,
more and more
diplomats
began to
arrive with
Syria on their
minds. They
were told
they'd have to
wait until
Cote
d'Ivoire was
over. "Why are
they taking so
long?" a
European
diplomat
asked.
There
were
at least two
from Turkey,
the
Netherlands --
even some
Security
Council
members were
told to wait
outside. The
chatter got
loud like
at a sporting
event, until
the guard call
for more
quiet. But is
this
golf or
tennis?
While
the
growing crowd
was kept
standing
outside,
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
chief Herve
Ladsous
arrived and
was
shepherded to
the front and
into
Conference
Room 6, as
past the
velvet rope
outside a
nightclub. "A
regime change
VIP,"
muttered one
wag.
The
number
two of of the
Department of
Field Support,
American Tony
Banbury, was
on the scene
as well. Some
wondered where
his new boss
Amira Haq was.
UN Security
checked
diplomats IDs
at the door,
to make
sure only
actual
contributors
got in.
As
Inner
City Press
exclusively reported,
Syria attended
one such
meeting in the
past --
which would
only make
sense, since
they are
the "host
country," but
which gave
rise to some
complaints.
After
the
room was full
and all seats
taken, three
diplomats
remains glum
faced at the
door. "We'll
have to ask
the
President,"
they
were told.
"The President
makes the
invitations,
not the
guards." They
waited.
"You're
with
the European
Union?" they
were asked.
Yes, they
nodded. And
they were not
let in. "Now
they know what
Palestine
feels
like," one wag
muttered. But
down in the
Arms Trade
Treaty
talks, at
least Palestine
has a seat in
the front row.
Watch this
site.
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