On
Syria, Draft
Resolution
Calling For
Ceasefire Comes
to Head,
Russia Meet,
Haley Speaks
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Full on Patreon here
UNITED NATIONS,
February 21 – Amid
talk that a
call for a
ceasefire in
Syria is
unrealistic,
Inner City Press on
February 14 published
the full text
of the UN
Security
Council's then
draft
resolution making
that call and
more, here
on Patreon.
Some
highlights from the
Operative
Paragraphs
below. Now on
February 21,
Russia has
called a
meeting for 12
noon on
February 22
(at the
February 21 UN
noon
briefing, no
media other
than Inner
City Press
asked any
questions, so
it seems it
doesn't
matter); the
vote could
come soon
after. US
Ambassador Nikki Haley
said, "The
United Nations
Security
Council is
considering a
resolution
that would
establish a
one-month
ceasefire to
allow for the
delivery of
critical
supplies and
evacuation of
the wounded. It’s
time to take
immediate
action in the
hopes of
saving the
lives of the
men, women,
and children
who are under
attack by the
barbaric Assad
regime. It is
simply
preposterous
to claim that
these attacks
on civilians
have anything
to do with
fighting
terrorism. The
Security
Council must
move to adopt
a resolution
establishing a
ceasefire. The
United States
will support
it, as should
every member
of the
Council." Showdown.
From OPs: the
Security
Council "Decides
that all
parties to the
Syrian
conflict shall
immediately
abide by a
humanitarian
pause and
cessation of
violence
throughout
Syria, for a
period of 30
consecutive
days to begin
at [00:00 h,
(Damascus
time) on XX
February
2018], [72
hours after
the adoption
of this
resolution],
to enable the
delivery of
humanitarian
aid and
services and
medical
evacuations of
the critically
sick and
wounded;
Further
decides that,
48 hours after
the start of
the
humanitarian
pause, all
parties to the
Syrian
conflict shall
allow and
facilitate
weekly United
Nations and
Syrian Arab
Red Crescent
convoys to all
requested
areas based on
United
Nations’
assessments of
need, in order
to allow safe,
unimpeded and
sustained
deliveries of
humanitarian
aid, including
medical and
surgical
supplies, to
the millions
of people in
need in all
parts of
Syria, in
particular to
those 5.6
million people
in 1,244
communities in
acute need,
including the
2.9 million
people in
hard-to-reach
and besieged
locations; Decides
moreover that
all parties to
the conflict
shall allow
and facilitate
unconditional
medical
evacuations by
the United
Nations and
its
implementing
partners,
based on
medical need
and urgency,
and requests
the United
Nations and
their
implementing
partners to
start
undertaking
such medical
evacuations 48
hours after
the start of
the
humanitarian
pause... Endorses
the five
measures
identified by
the Emergency
Relief
Coordinator on
11 January
2018 during
his mission to
Syria, and
calls on all
parties to
facilitate the
implementation
of these five
measures and
others as
specified in
relevant
Security
Council
resolutions,
to ensure
principled,
sustained and
improved
humanitarian
assistance to
Syria in 2018; Calls
upon all
parties to
immediately
lift the
sieges of
populated
areas,
including in
Eastern
Ghouta,
Yarmouk, Foua
and Kefraya,
and demands
that all
parties allow
the delivery
of
humanitarian
assistance,
including
medical
assistance,
cease
depriving
civilians of
food and
medicine
indispensable
to their
survival, and
enable the
rapid, safe
and unhindered
evacuation of
all civilians
who wish to
leave, and
underscores
the need for
the parties to
agree on
humanitarian
pauses, days
of
tranquility,
localized
ceasefires and
truces to
allow
humanitarian
agencies safe
and unhindered
access to all
affected areas
in Syria,
recalling that
starvation of
civilians as a
method of
combat is
prohibited by
international
humanitarian
law [2139 with
updated
locations];
OP 8. Requests
the
Secretary-General
to report to
the Council on
the
implementation
of this
resolution,
and on
compliance by
all relevant
parties in
Syria within
15 days of
adoption of
this
resolution and
thereafter..."
We'll have
more on this.
On
February 9,
after Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported that
the UN's top
Middle East
post is slated
for Susanne
Rose with only
"basic
Arabic,"
Guterres'
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused Inner
City Press'
questions
about the
selection
process.
The
top UN
Political
Affairs
position
belongs to the
United States.
With
Obama-nominee
Jeffrey
Feltman set to
leave by March
31, now
Feltman has
used his final
days to name
an ally or
protege to
head the
Middle East
and Western
Asia Division,
to continue
his views even
under his
replacement.
It is Susanne
Rose, who
worked for
Feltman in
Beirut. But
she speaks
only "basic
Arabic." There
is grumbling
in DPA - and
elsewhere.
Here's
from the
letter, by
Feltman's
deputy
Miroslav Jenca
since Feltman
is in South
Korea with
Guterres, or
to create the
illusion of
recusal: Rose
was "Political
and Economic
Counselor in
Beirut, Middle
East Officer
in Rome (where
she spent the
first year as
an exchange
diplomat at
the NATO
office of the
Italian
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs),
Staff
Assistant to
the Assistant
Secretary for
Economic
Affairs, and
Economic
Officer in
Trinidad and
Tobago....
Susanne speaks
French,
Italian,
Spanish,
German, and
basic Arabic.
She was born
in Berkeley,
California,
and has a
14-month year
old Havanese
dog named
Tartufo."
Senior
staff and
diplomats have
been asking
Inner City
Press which
American will
replace
Feltman. On
January 25,
amid
complaints of
Guterres'
silence and
long weekends
away, a name
emerged
leaving some
shaking their
heads: Dina
Powell. "She's
perfect," one
said of
Trump's deputy
national
security
adviser for
strategy of
whom
spokesperson
Sarah Huckabee
Sanders said
she's
"returning
home to New
York. She’s
expected to
continue
working with
the
administration
on Middle East
policy issues
from outside
the White
House." Why
not from the
UN? (Some now
tell Inner
City Press she
has declined
the post.)
Inner City
Press notes
she's been
spotted in
Davos, where
Guterres at
the last
moment did not
go. "Really?"
demanded
another,
alongside a
controversial
Serbian
government
presentation
in the UN
Delegates'
Entrance.
Stranger
things have
happened.
Guterres gave
his "Global
Communications"
position to an
official,
Alison Smale,
who refuses to
answer Press questions
even about whistleblowers'
complaints
about her
Department of
Public
Information.
Another
Brit Martin
Griffiths
seems destined
to take over
the UN's Yemen
envoy post,
perhaps taking
with him some
staff
currently
assigned to
Staffan de
Mistura for
Syria. Other
Department of
Political
Affairs posts
have already
been given
away, but not
yet announced.
Until now.
To
head the UN-affiliated
International Organization for
Migration (IOM), the US on
February 2 nominated Ken
Isaacs of the group
Samaritan's Purse, active in
Sudan and elsewhere. Inner
City Press at the UN has been
pursuing the story it first
exposed of UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres
having recently met Sudan's
Omar al Bashir, indicted for
genocide in Darfur by the
International Criminal Court,
without even notifying the ICC
in advance, as required. So
after the US nomination, Inner
City Press visited Isaac's
Twitter account, to see if
he'd opined on Guterres'
unprecedented move. Isaacs'
Twitter account, @KenIsaacs1,
was accessible to the public;
he had re-tweeted about the
Nunes memo.
But by February
3, the account was protected,
not accessible. Photo here.
Perhaps it's a function of the
upcoming election among IOM
member states, the scrutiny of
involved officials - like
Guterres himself. But what
*does* Isaacs think of
Guterres meeting with Bashir,
indicted for war crimes in
Sudan, without even telling
the ICC in advance, and not
disclosing it until Inner City
Press asked at the UN noon
briefing on January 29?
Question here.
Watch this site.
Today's UN of
Antonio Guterres, who just met
with ICC indictee Omar al
Bashir, and his Deputy Amina
J. Mohammed who has refused
Press questions
on her rosewood signatures
and now the refoulement of 47
people to Cameroon from "her"
Nigeria, has become a place of
corruption and censorship.
Amid UN bribery scandals,
failures in countries from
Cameroon to Yemen and
declining transparency,
today's UN does not even
pretend to have content
neutral rules about which
media get full access and
which are confined to minders
or escorts to cover the
General Assembly.
Inner City Press,
which while it pursue the
story of Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng's
bribery of President of the
General Assembly John Ashe was
evicted by the UN Department
of Public Information from its
office, is STILL confined to
minders as it pursues the new
UN bribery scandal, of Patrick
Ho and Cheikh Gadio
allegedly bribing President of
the General Assembly Sam
Kutesa, and Chad's Idriss
Deby, for CEFC China Energy.
Last week Inner
City Press asked UN DPI where
it is on the list to be
restored to (its) office, and
regain full office - and was
told it is not even on the
list, there is no public list,
the UN can exclude,
permanently, whomever it
wants. This is censorship...
***
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