After
Egypt & UK
Predicted 70
Votes, Saudi
Dumped
Sanctions
& Assad
Leaving
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 2 -- In
the wake of
Kofi Annan
quitting as
Syria envoy,
more detail on
how and why
the Saudi
Arabia drafted
General
Assembly
resolution was
amended has
emerged.
Multiple
sources tell
Inner City
Press that
after Saudi
Arabia on July
31 presented a
draft General
Assembly
resolution on
Syria urging
sanctions and
Bashar al
Assad to step
down, it was
pressured by
among others
Egypt, the UK
and France to
drop those
elements to
gain a higher
vote count.
Not only the
opposition by
BRICSA --
Brazil,
Russia, India,
China and
South Africa
-- on which
Inner City
Press first
reported was
determinative:
the position
of, for
example,
Argentina
carried
weight.
If even the
Argentines
oppose it, an
involved
source told
Inner City
Press, we had
to change it.
And so not
only a major
Western
country, but
also Egypt,
told Saudi
Arabia they
might get only
70 votes for
their
draft.
One particpant
actually
thought 85 to
90 votes were
possible. But
"moving" Saudi
Arabia was the
key. And Saudi
moved.
Most
interesting,
the sources
tell Inner
City Press,
was the
position of
the United
States. Unlike
the UK and
France, the US
was not
pushing as
hard to take
out the
references to
sanctions and
Assad stepping
down. It was
speculated, as
one sources
put it, that
this was
because "what
if the Romney
camp found out
the US wanted
these out?"
The prospect
of US support
for keeping
these elements
in made Saudi
Arabia take
longer to
agree to make
the
amendments,
but finally
they
did.
Now, the
proponent
sources told
Inner City
Press they
predict a vote
count of 110,
while
internally
hoping for
125.
But, as French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
told the press
midday on
Thursday,
August is a
month of
vacations with
many absences
in the General
Assembly.
The
philosophic
underpinning
of the
opposition is
not only that
the General
Assembly
shouldn't be
asked to call
for "regime
change" in a
country among
the early
founders of
the UN.
Also, Saudi
Arabia was
told,
unilateral
sanctions like
those of the
Arab League
are not
celebrated by
many in the
General
Assembly.
And so both
provisions
were dropped.
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.
For now 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."
With Kofi
having quit,
will that
paragraph
change? Watch
this site.
, 
