On
Libya,
UN's Pascoe
Dodges NATO
Continuing
Role in Martin
Plan, Claims
Big UN
Involvement in
Elections
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 12
-- Two weeks
after the UN's
grandiose plan
to
send 200
military
observers to
Libya,
alongside what
the UN plan
called a
continuing
role for NATO,
was exposed
and largely rejected
by
the National
Transitional
Council there,
on Monday UN
Political
chief Lynn
Pascoe held a
briefing to
brag about the
UN's success
in
mediation.
Inner
City Press
asked Pascoe,
now that UN
mediator Al
Khatib is
being removed
from
the scene,
what his
involvement is
with Ian
Martin, the
author of the
plan, and how
the UN
justifies the
position in
the Martin
Plan that
"[t]he
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."
Click
here for the
Martin Report,
exclusively
obtained and
published
by Inner City
Press.
Pascoe
launched
into a length
response that
veered into
Sudan and
envoy Haile
Menkerios'
work there,
then returned
to say that
the Libyans
"want
us to be very
involved in
elections," a
position
disputed by
sources in
Benghazi and
now Tripoli.
In
terms of the
requested UN
defense of it
having posited
a continuing
role for NATO,
which Martin
when he took
the question
insisted was a
"factual
statement,"
Pascoe offered
no defense.
When
Inner City
Press tried at
the end of the
disjointed
answer to ask,
"What
about the NATO
statement,"
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
cut in, saying
"we have to
move on to
others."
"Mediator"
Khatib, Ban
& Martin
on Aug 26,
Pascoe not
shown, Martin
has 2 rivals?
Perhaps
Pascoe's
reference to
Sudan, from
which the UN
Mission has
been expelled
on
July 9, was
that even now
Ban's New York
based adviser
on the country
Haile
Menkerios
reports to the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
and not
Pascoe's
Department of
Political
Affairs.
Inner
City Press
has also asked
Pascoe to
respond to the
criticism that
this UN is
often far from
impartial.
This, he did
not answer,
but it has in
the
view of many
become the
UN's Achilles
heal. Watch
this site.
* * *
At
UN
on Libya,
Proposed Arms
Embargo
Exceptions for
TNC & UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 12
-- With the UK drafted
resolution on
Libya
expected to be
circulated to
Security
Council
members today,
German
Permanent
Representative
Peter Wittig
told the Press
that he
doesn't
"expect any
acrimonious
philosophical
debate," and
predicts
adoption this
week.
But
when Inner
City Press
asked two
other well
placed Council
sources, the
answer
was "not so
fast." One
source, from
among the IBSA
(India,
Brazil and
South Africa)
grouping, told
Inner City
Press that the
proposed
modification
of asset
freeze and
particularly
the arms
embargo could
give rise to
some debate.
A
European
diplomat who
is a proponent
of the draft
countered to
Inner City
Press that it
would not life
the arms
embargo but
open
"exceptions"
to it.
Another
Council
diplomat, from
a country
which has
recognized the
Transitional
National
Council, told
Inner City
Press that the
proposed
exceptions
to the arms
embargo are
for the TNC,
and separately
to take in
weapons to
protect the
UN.
Guns in
Libya: is
there a lack?
Arms embargo
exception not
shown
Some
wonder: is it
that the TNC
does not have
enough
weapons? But
the diplomat
from the
country
recognizing
the TNC
predicted that
any questions
or
opposition
will
disappear,
indicating
that they have
to see which
way
the wind is
blowing. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
a well placed
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press the
Credentials
Committee is
supposed to
formally
switch to the
TNC this week.
, 
