On
Libya,
As UN's Martin
Calls Ongoing
NATO Role a
"Factual
Statement,"
Military
Dreams Shot
Down
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 --
While the 200
UN Military
Observers
envisioned
in Ian
Martin's
leaked August
22 report to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
were ruled out
on August 30
by the UK and
Russian
Ambassadors
and Martin
himself as not
requested by
the Libyans,
Martin told
the
Press that
NATO's
continuing
role is just
"a factual
statement."
Inner
City Press,
which
exclusively
obtained and
published Martin's 10
page plan for
Libya,
asked him
three
questions,
first about
his line that
"the
Security
Council's
'protection of
civilians'
mandate
implemented by
NATO does not
end with the
fall of the
Qadhafi
government
and,
therefore,
NATO would
continue to
have some
responsibilities."
"That's
just a
factual
statement,"
Martin said.
But unless one
is entirely
embedded on
the Western /
NATO side of
the debate, it
is in fact a
contested and
controversial
statement to
say NATO will
continue to
have
responsibilities
in Libya.
Chinese
Ambassador
Li Baodong,
for example,
on Tuesday
told Inner
City Press
that
post-conflict
"should be the
end of NATO's
mission."
He also said
that the
African Union,
which unlike
NATO is not
mentioned in
Martin's 10
page
report, should
play a role in
post conflict
Libya.
Inner
City Press
asked Martin
about the AU
not being in
his report.
Martin replied
that Ban
Ki-moon is
headed to
Paris for the
September 1
meeting and
hopes to there
meet with the
chairman of
the African
Commission.
(Then Ban will
proceed to,
among other
stops,
Kiribati and
the
Marshall
Islands.)
Ban & Ian
Martin -
ongoing NATO
role is "just
a factual
statement"?
While
Martin was
meeting behind
closed doors
in the
Security
Council,
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
emerged and
Inner City
Press asked
him
about the
military
observers
concept in
Martin's
August 22
plan: "up
to 200
UNMOs... 50
UNMOs able to
redeploy
immediately
from other
missions."
Churkin
said that
"the Libyans
don't see a
need for
military
observers,"
but
said to ask
Ian Martin.
Moments
later
Inner City
Press put the
same question
to UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant, who
paused and
said that the
NTC, the
National
Transitional
Council, is
"not
suggesting"
military
observers.
Ian
Martin, when
asked by Inner
City Press,
said that the
plan of
military
observers
was premised
on there being
a ceasefire,
which has not
occurred. But
his plan was
dated and
signed on
August 22,
when the
rebels were
already in
Tripoli. Now
there is the
standoff in
Sirte -- watch
this
site.
, 
