On
Syria, Tillerson Says Russia
has a Special
Responsibility,
Echo of Guterres On the Go
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
July 5 -- After US President
Donald Trump took off for
Poland and then the G-20,
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson issued this
statement on Syria, alluding
to what he told UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, who
now rarely issues any
read-outs, or remains in the
UN for more than a day at a
time: "before I depart for the
G20 summit in Hamburg, I would
like to comment on the current
situation in Syria, which is a
topic the President will raise
in his meeting with Russian
President Putin. First,
parties in Syria must ensure
stability on the ground. If we
do not achieve stability in
Syria, our progress in
defeating ISIS may be undone.
Secondly, parties must work
through a political process to
achieve a settlement that
charts a way forward for the
Syrian people. Lastly, Russia
has a special responsibility
to assist in these efforts. As
organized military efforts to
defeat ISIS on the ground in
Syria continue, the United
States and our partners in the
Coalition to Defeat ISIS are
committed to ensuring that
civilians from recently
liberated areas can begin the
process of returning home and
rebuilding their lives. Actors
in Syria must remember that
our fight is with ISIS. We
call upon all parties,
including the Syrian
government and its allies,
Syrian opposition forces, and
Coalition forces carrying out
the battle to defeat ISIS, to
avoid conflict with one
another and adhere to agreed
geographical boundaries for
military de-confliction and
protocols for de-escalation.
While there are no perfect
options for guaranteeing
stability, we must explore all
possibilities for holding the
line against the resurgence of
ISIS or other terrorist
groups. The United States and
Russia certainly have
unresolved differences on a
number of issues, but we have
the potential to appropriately
coordinate in Syria in order
to produce stability and serve
our mutual security interests.
The United States believes
Russia, as a guarantor of the
Assad regime and an early
entrant into the Syrian
conflict, has a responsibility
to ensure that the needs of
the Syrian people are met and
that no faction in Syria
illegitimately re-takes or
occupies areas liberated from
ISIS' or other terrorist
groups' control. Russia also
has an obligation to prevent
any further use of chemical
weapons of any kind by the
Assad regime. The United
States and Russia have already
achieved progress in
establishing de-confliction
zones in Syria that have
prevented mutual collateral
damage. Our military leaders
have communicated clearly with
one another to make sure no
accidents occur between our
two countries in the Syrian
theater. Where there have been
minor incidents, they have
been resolved quickly and
peacefully. This cooperation
over de-confliction zones
process is evidence that our
two nations are capable of
further progress. The United
States is prepared to explore
the possibility of
establishing with Russia joint
mechanisms for ensuring
stability, including no-fly
zones, on the ground ceasefire
observers, and coordinated
delivery of humanitarian
assistance. If our two
countries work together to
establish stability on the
ground, it will lay a
foundation for progress on the
settlement of Syria's
political future. With the
liberation of Raqqa now
underway, ISIS has been badly
wounded, and is could be on
the brink of complete defeat
in Syria if all parties focus
on this objective. In order to
complete the mission, the
international community, and
especially Russia, must remove
obstacles to the defeat of
ISIS and help provide
stability that prevents ISIS
from rising anew from the
ashes of their failed and
fraudulent caliphate." When
the UN's outgoing humanitarian
chief for Syria Kevin Kennedy
held a press conference on
June 29, Inner City Press
asked him about reports
including by the UN itself
that some non-governmental
organizations are raising
money off Syria despite having
no presence there, including
at least one European NGO
which "blackmailed" a local
group to work in a dangerous
area or have all of its
funding cut. Kennedy, who told
Inner City Press before the
briefing that he is retiring
for the fifth time from the
UN, said he was unaware of
that particular case but
acknowledged that the UN's
duty of care to those who work
on aid on its behalf is a
complex issue. Two drivers
were shot, and they were not
UN staff. So what provisions
are there? We'll have more on
this. Back on May 15 after the
US State Department released
and took questions about a
report depicting a crematorium
in Syria, the UN's holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric in
the afternoon said he hasn't
seen it. From the UN
transcript: Inner City Press:
The report was released by the
State Department today,
earlier today.
Spokesman: I'm not
all-seeing and all-reading.
Clearly not. Nor does today's
UN like to let others see how
it operates. On May 17, from
the UN in Geneva about its
Syria talks, comes this:
"REMINDER: Non-permanently
accredited journalists will
not be allowed to enter the
Palais des Nations after 7:00
pm." This means that critical
media like Inner City Press,
from which the UN took away
"resident correspondent
accreditation" for pursuing
its coverage of UN corruption
into the UN Press Briefing
Room, have materially less
access than the UN's favor
media. But who are they? Back
on May 15 behind closed doors
in the UN a film with screened
-- with "movie snacks and
refreshments" - about the Fall
of Syria and the Rise of ISIS.
Back on April 11 when UN envoy
on Syria Staffan de Mistura
took questions in New York,
Inner City Press asked him
about the US Tomahawk strike
on Syria, and the Geneva
talks. Video
here. UN transcript:
Inner City Press: Right after
the strike, your office put
out statements saying you were
operationally focused on it. I
just wondered, specifically
when did you learn about the
strike and what did you do in
response? Also in the US,
there is a lot of focus on
different statements by the
administration about Assad not
staying or not being
legitimate. I just wanted to
know when you see those, do
you believe it is through your
process, that the things that
they are discussing will be
carried out, or there is some
separate process they are
referring to by which
Assad no longer remain in
power?
SdM: I frankly can't answer
the second point, but what I
can say is what I hear, and
what I hear from the
Americans, but also from
anyone else, that the solution
for the future of the Syrian
political environment is
through negotiation and
according to resolution 2254
and through a UN led
negotiation. All the rest I am
not in a position of
commenting on frankly. I
learnt about the strike, not
when it happened, later, and
my first reaction was how can
we now manage the crisis and
avoid that it becomes an
escalation, that has been my
first thought, and that is
normally what the UN should be
doing.
After that, de
Mistura said he will be
continuing as envoy, after
seeing the photographs and
being asked to continue, by
his family. It was the
opposite of the usual
invocation of family in such
circumstances. Antonio
Guterres is giving the UNDP
top stop to Achim Steiner.
After some surmised that the
UN Security Council's three
draft resolutions were, along
with twenty planes, among the
things destroyed by the US
Tomahawk missiles last week,
the Security Council voted on
a revised draft on April 12
just after 3 pm. The
resolution failed, with Russia
(veto) and Bolivia against,
and China, Kazakhstan and
Ethiopia abstaining. UK
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft
said there'll be a push on
April 13 at the OPCW; Russia's
Safronkov also cited that
meeting. Prior to the vote,
Inner City Press put questions
to UN Syria envoy Staffan de
Mistura We'll have more on
this. On April 11, Ukraine's
Ambassador Yelchenko emerged
from the Council's meeting
about Haiti and told the press
about the draft. Inner City
Press asked if the Assad
government turning over flight
logs was still in the draft;
yes.
As he left
the UNSC on the night of April
6, Uruguay's Ambassador said,
We never give up. Sweden's
Ambassador Olof Skoog, who
earlier hearkened back to Hans
Blix in 2003, said we continue
to work. Source told Inner
City Press that Sweden's role
has led to push-back against
it. In some instances Sweden
takes a line such as on
women's rights; in others it
backs down, as to Morocco
about Western Sahara, after a
threat to ban Ikea. We'll see.
The vote on the
Syria chemical weapons deaths
was against postponed on the
evening April 6, according
first to a UK Mission
official, with now three
drafts in the mix. After the
deaths by chemical weapons in
Syria, an open UN Security
Council meeting was held on
April 5. On the way in,
Ambassadors including from the
UK, Sweden and France spoke, video
here. On April 6,
excluded from the process,
both the P3 and Russian drafts
below, Elected Ten members of
the Council met inside the
Council -- the glass door to
the stakeout was improperly
locked by the UN Secretariat
-- and afterward Inner City
Press reported
and talked with several. One
said the goal was to avoid a
veto; another said it was to
avoid exclusion from the
process after being elected to
the Security Council. Later,
after the door was opened,
Sweden's Olof Skoog said, "I
was here with Hans Blix in
2003, of course I'm worried."
Inner City Press looped
video here, YouTube here. Others distinguish the two
cases.
Uruguay's
Ambassador quoted Marlon
Brando, "The horror, the
horror." Back on April 4, the
Ambassadors of the UK then
Sweden called for an emergency
Council meeting. Inner City
Press video
here.
As
de Mistura trudges on with a
short term UN extension, he
did not say if he is applying
to head the UN Development
Program, and thus to move on
from his Syria post. Inner
City Press first
reported that - and the
interest of Sigrid
Kaag, who blocks Inner
City Press on Twitter, deemed
fine by the UN's
holdover Deputy Spokesman
Farhan Haq.
On March 8,
before the US' April
presidency of the Security
Council, US Ambassador Nikki
Haley was asked of Iran
involvement in talks. She
paused, then said there are
some not at the table who
should be. Watch this site.
In Geneva
for the Syria talks as in New
York, the UN made a point of
telling those with "temporary
accreditation" that they could
not get into the building
after 7 pm, even with a
stakeout scheduled for 6:30
pm. The Free
UN Coalition for Access
(FUNCA)
objects to the UN's two-tier
system for correspondents,
which in New York meant for
example that Inner City Press
which covered Peru's
President's meeting with
Antonio Guterres was Banned
from the area of the UN where
he spoke to the media
afterward. (But see this
Periscope). Ban
Censorship in 2017.
Even before
February 25, multiple UN
sources sounded a dissonant
note to Inner City Press.
As
exclusively reported
February 2, the sources had
told Inner City Press that de
Mistura is in fact angling to
replace Helen Clark atop the
UN Development Program or
UNDP. (The UN Spokesperson's
office, as usual, is in
untransparent denial mode.
Also in the mix are, among
others, David Miliband,
Segolene Royal and Bert
Koenders - or even Sigrid "The
Blocker" Kaag).
Inner City
Press first reported from its
sources that seeking to
replace de Mistura as UN Syria
envoy is Sigrid Kaag, long
time envoy in Lebanon. (We'd
ask Kaag to confirm or deny,
but again it turns out Kaag blocks
Inner City Press on Twitter, click
here to view: strange,
for a publicly paid UN
official.) We'll have more on
this.
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, US Ambassador to
the UN Nikki Haley hadn't
raised it. Some wondered if
that reflects the irrelevance
to which the UN has sunk.
We'll see.
***
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