On
Syria,
Sources Say US
Doesn't Want
UN Mission
Extended,
Blame Game
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 20,
updated --
After Thursday
afternoon's UN
Security
Council
"showdown" on
competing
drafts to
rollover or
extend one
final time the
mandate of the
UN observer
mission in
Syria, Inner
City Press was
informed of a
telling
exchange
inside the
closed door
meeting.
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice was
asked point
blank if the
US wants the
mission to be
extended, and
said no.
That
really
is it. But
many of
Friday's
headlines said
it is Russia
and
China killing
the mission.
Half
an
hour before
the Security
Council
meeting, Inner
City Press
asked
July's Council
president
Nestor Osorio
is both the UK
and Pakistan
drafts are "in
blue" and
ready to be
voted on.
Yes, he
said, adding
that if the UK
draft is
adopted,
there'd be no
reason to
vote on
Pakistan's.
And
if
both are voted
down?
And at 9:50 am
Friday, it
emerged the
vote(s) may be
delayed.
Pakistan has
asked for
consultations
on its draft.
Update
of 10:02 am --
South Africa
tells Inner
City Press it
would vote for
either draft,
UK or
Pakistan. This
is after
abstaining on
UK's Chapter 7
resolution on
Thursday.
Nuanced....
Update
of 10:55 am --
the
consultations
are over,
crowd milling
in Security
Council
chamber.
Inner City
Press has
obtained the
below, as
modified UK
draft:
Commending the
efforts of the
United Nations
Supervision
Mission in
Syria
(UNSMIS),
1.Decides to
renew the
mandate of
UNSMIS for a
final period
of 30 days,
taking into
consideration
the
Secretary-General’s
recommendations
to reconfigure
the Mission,
and taking
into
consideration
the
operational
implications
of the
increasingly
dangerous
security
situation in
Syria;
2.Calls
upon the
parties to
assure the
safety of
UNSMIS
personnel
without
prejudice to
its freedom of
movement and
access, and
stresses that
the primary
responsibility
in this regard
lies with the
Syrian
authorities;
3.Expresses
its
willingness to
renew the
mandate of
UNSMIS
thereafter
only in the
event that the
Secretary-General
reports and
the Security
Council
confirms the
cessation of
the use of
heavy weapons
and a
reduction in
the level of
violence
sufficient to
allow UNSMIS
to implement
its mandate;
4.Requests the
Secretary-General
to report to
the Council on
the
implementation
of this
resolution
within 15
days;
5.Decides to
remain seized
of the matter.
Dropped is the
reference to
"full
implementation
of paragraph 2
of resolution
2043."
Flash
back to late
Thursday:
Inner City
Press asked
China's
Permanent
Representative
Li
Baodong thirty
or forty five
days -- that
is, UK or
Pakistan
draft?
"Showdown,"
Li
Baodong
exclusively
told Inner
City Press.
Inner
City
Press asked
Pakistan's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
if his
draft has the
nine required
votes.
"Just
trying
to help," he
exclusively
told Inner
City Press.
When
US
Permanent
Representative
Susan Rice
emerged, she
said as
President
Barack Obama's
spokesman Jay
Carney had on
Air Force One
that the US
does not
support any
technical
rollover of
the mission.
On
Air
Force One,
Carney was
asked, did the
Annan plan
fail? Carney
replied, "It
has failed
thus far, yes.
And the
failure of the
Security
Council to
support this
resolution
means that it
can't go
forward."
So
Inner
City Press
asked
Ambassador
Rice, does
Kofi Annan's
mission
continue?
"Good
question,"
Ambassador
Rice replied.
Russian
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly Churkin
was the most
detailed. "It
was a
funny
discussion,"
he began.
"They keep
coming back to
their
ideological
position.
There is a
good Pakistan
text that I
know
I am going to
support."
Referring
to the UK
draft and its
supporters,
Churkin said
"our
colleagues
want to
replay
individual
elements from
the Kofi Annan
plan. It's too
late in
the day to do
it." And too
late Friday
morning? Watch
this site.
, 
