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As Arms Trade Treaty Opposed by Zim and USA,
Ukraine Denies Shipping Tanks to S. Sudan
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
October 31 -- As a resolution
"toward an
arms trade treaty" passed at the UN with only the U.S. and
Zimbabwe voting against it, the planned destination of the tanks
hijacked in
their Ukrainian ship off the coast of Somalia became more clear. Two
African
Ambassador to the UN tell Inner City Press that the tanks were meant
for South
Sudan, that not Kibaki but Odinga is aware of and even involved in this
stealth
weapons flow. Meanwhile, Inner City Press on October 30 asked Ukraine's
Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev about his country's shipment of the tanks,
and of
other weapons to Georgia. Video here,
from Minute 27:30.
Ambassador Sergeyev,
after insisting that the tanks were meant for Kenya because Kenya so
declared,
upon pressing acknowledged that "this is the responsibility of the
destination" country. Thus, he appeared to argue that under current
law,
Ukraine bears no independent due diligence responsibility to ascertain
where
its weapons actually end up, and for what purpose.
An
arms trade treaty is
needed, but what passed Friday essentially sets up a series of
meetings. Even
so, the U.S. and Zimbabwe opposed it. Belarus, notably, abstained on
all votes
except voting "yes" to retain Operative Paragraph 4, setting up a
February 27, 2009 meeting in New York. Does the Belarusian
representative
simply want to travel to New York on that day, or was this extraneous
vote cast
by mistake?
Arms surrended in Nepal, where Ban is, ATT
& Ukraine tank shipment not shown
Ukraine's Ambassador Sergeyev used Inner City
Press' question about its arms sales to Georgia as an opportunity to
blame
August's conflict on Russian "interference." The main purpose of
Ambassador
Sergeyev's press conference on October 30 was to distribute his
country's
"non-paper" resolution about the 1932 famine or Holodomor.
The
UN's
General Committee has twice failed to vote on including the issue in
its
agenda. The first time, since President d'Escoto Brockmann had called
for a
vote, U.S. Deputy -- and soon reportedly to be Acting -- Permanent
Representative Alejandro Wolff insisted that no more speaking be
allowed. This
infuriated Kazakhstan's Ambassador, leading to a stand-off which
Russian
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin likened to Wolff knocking
down a person getting off a
bus.
The second
blocking of vote was by Wolff, as it turns out. In further inquiry into
Ambassador Churkin's charge that the U.S. blocked d'Escoto from calling
a vote
on the issue on October 23, Inner City Press has learned that, having
no other
way to block a vote, Wolff filibustered d'Escoto in his office
throughout the
time of the meeting, asking questions about the painting's on the
office wall,
Martin Luther King, etcetera. This infuriated Ambassador Churkin,
leading to
his October 28 45-minute
press conference on nothing but the famine question.
It appears
unlikely that Ukraine's resolution will pass; even its supporters
belittle the
resolution off the record. It was 75 years ago, they say. But some like
to poke
the Russian bear with a stick, any stick. Russia, for the record,
abstained
from the Arms Trade Treaty resolution, as did China. While the UK voted
for it,
and rushed to the Security Council stakeout to brag about their vote,
to come
full circle to Kenya, it is reported that its tanks are of British
origin.
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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USA
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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