UN
Syria Envoy de Mistura Said To
Angle For UNDP Post, Sources
Tell ICP, UN Leaves Process
Murky
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
February 2 – With the UN's
envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura
set to meet new US Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson on
February 3, multiple UN
sources are sounding a
dissonant note to Inner City
Press.
The
sources tell Inner City Press
that de Mistura is in fact
angling to replace Helen Clark
atop the UN Development Program
or UNDP.
Inner City
Press last month reported
on Clark stepping down, reviewed
candidates from the UK's David
Miliband to France's Segolene
Royal, and asked
the UN's holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric to describe
the process. He
declined.
(Inner City
Press on February 3 published
a story about UN
turn-over and transition based
not on Dujarric's non-answers,
but just published UN vacancy
announcements.)
Now
multiple independent sources
tell Inner City Press that de
Mistura wants the position,
has lobbied some member states
about it, including after
anger at him was expressed at
a recent meeting of the Syrian
opposition.
But what
message would it send, de
Mistura campaigning for a
different UN post at this
time? Watch this site.
When de Mistura
took questions on January 31,
Inner City Press asked him
among other things if the
Trump administration's
proposal for safe zones in
Syria (and Yemen) had been
discussed. Video here.
No, de
Mistura said, new US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki
Haley hadn't raised it. Some
wondered if that reflects the
irrelevance to which the UN
sank under Ban Ki-moon. We'll
see.
When Russia's Ambassador to the
UN Vitaly Churkin announced on
Friday December 30 that he hoped
for a unanimous vote on New
Year's Eve at 11 am on a
resolution endorsing his
country's and Turkey's ceasefire
plan in Syria, Inner City Press
asked him which groups are
included. Video
here.
But at 11 am, Churkin
said other Council members are
difficult, and said they might
not vote until "tonight" - New
Year's Eve. Journalists laughed,
nervously.
The Ambassador of New
Zealand, leaving the Security
Council later in the day after a
two year term, said
clarification is needed as to
what is exempt from the
ceasefire -- all of Idlib? --
and that there's a problem with
endorsing. Video
here.
But after language was changed
to welcoming with some other
amendments, final
version Tweeted here, the
Security Council members
returned at 1 pm and adopted the
resolution. Afterward for the US
Mission to the UN Deputy
Ambassador Michele
Sison, not Samantha Power,
gave a speech of skepticism,
as did the UK's Peter Wilson.
There were no right of reply,
and the Syrian delegation did
not speak.
After the meeting
came the ritual changing of the
flags. New Zealand, for one,
watched its being removed. The
delegations of Bolivia,
including Permanent
Representative Sasha Llorenti,
and of Kazakhstan
took photos with their flags. Video here.
***
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