On
Syria, Saudi
Draft Drops
Sanctions
& Assad
Stepping Down,
for Friday
Vote
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 1 --
The day after
Saudi Arabia
presented a
draft General
Assembly
resolution on
Syria urging
sanctions and
Bashar al
Assad to step
down, a new
draft dropped
both, and the
vote was
pushed back
one day.
The new draft,
which Inner
City Press
obtained from
a well placed
member state
after 5 pm on
August 1, is
now set for
voting August
3 at 11 am.
Inner City
Press is
putting the
draft online
here.
Most
contentious in
the previous
draft,
opponents
said, was the
last
perambular
paragraph
"welcoming
the
relevant
League of Arab
States’
decisions,
including its
22 July 2012
resolution, in
particular its
appeal to the
Syrian
President to
step down from
power."
Now that language
is gone. An
opponent late
Wednesday
exclusive also
told Inner
City Press,
they're afraid
of us. They'd
also pointed
to operative
paragraphs 20
and 21, which
called on
countries to
adopt
sanctions like
the Arab
League. That
too is gone.
Saudi
Arabia has
been opposed
on sanctions
and "regime
change" by,
among others,
BRICSA --
Brazil,
Russia, India,
China and
South Africa
-- and some
Latin American
countries.
Still in
however is
Paragraph 20, which
a non-BRICSA
diplomat told
Inner City
Press, is
"disrespectful"
to Kofi Annan,
directing him
to "focus his
efforts."
One
BRICSA
representative
after Tuesday
meeting said
that Saudi
Arabia put
these in so as
to negotiate.
It looks like
they were
right.
But since
Saudi Arabia,
like Qatar, is
already giving
weapons to the
opposition,
adopting a
resolution
even like this
could be seen
to provide a
further
pretext.
The amendments
come after
Saudi Arabia at 10,
11 and 12 on
August 1 held
scheduled
briefings for
the Western
European and
Others States
Group, the
Asia Pacific
Group, and the
Group of Latin
American and
Caribbean
States.
This
stood in
contrast to
the African
Group, which
on July 31
received a
briefing from
Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari.
After Inner
City Press mentioned
this meeting
in its July 31
analysis the
Saudi
resolution,
it was told
that Egypt too
addressed the
African Group,
and added
it to the
piece.
Then a
participant
noted that
Egypt just
spoke as a
member; only
Syria can a
briefing. But
why was the
format for the
other groups
so
different?
Watch this
site.
, 
