Jordan's
Zeid
Cites
Peacekeeping
As Mali Rapes
Are Raised,
Syria
as Footnote
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 6 --
As he takes
over the
presidency of
the UN
Security
Council for
January,
Jordan's
Prince Zeid
Ra'ad Zeid
Al-Hussein
brings much
longer history
at the UN than
other
Ambassadors
on the
Council.
In
his January 6
press
conference,
Zeid cited a
Security
Council debate
a full decade
ago about
national
reconciliation,
to be
belatedly
followed up by
his on January
29, on "War,
its lessons,
and the
search for a
permanent
peace."
(Zeid said
another
country's
Ambassador
told him this
is "much too
theoretical"
for the
Security
Council.)
Inner
City Press asked
Zeid about
news of the
day --
Presidents
Bashir and
Kiir of Sudan
and South
Sudan
discussion a
joint oil
protection
force
-- and about
one of his
longer term
interests, UN
Peacekeeping
and
sexual abuse
or
exploitation.
On
the latter,
Zeid said he
left that
position, or
finished that
report,
on 2007. But
in 2013 he was
on the UN's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations, bristling
correctly at
the inclusion
of Sri
Lanka military
figure
Shavendra
Silva.
What does he
think of the UN's
opacity on
gang rapes by
UN
peacekeepers
in Mali?
We'll ask
again.
January's
Program
of Work
lists seven
closed-door
consultations;
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
new Free UN
Coalition for
Access asked
Zeid to
hold stakeouts
after each of
them. Zeid was
asked why
Syria is only
a footnote on
the program of
work --
technically
true, since
OPCW
joint chemical
weapons
mission leader
Sigrid Kaag
will brief the
Council on
January 8.
Zeid
said that the
UN's
humanitarian
chief Valerie
Amos would be
traveling
to the area
and would hold
a briefing
there. But,
Inner City
Press
has noted,
Amos has twice
refused to
answer
questions
about the
groups Jabhat
al Nusra and
ISIS.
At
the January 6
UN noon
briefing that
preceded
Prince Zeid,
Inner City
Press asked
for any UN
reaction to
the new
constitution
promulgated
in Rojava,
predominantly
Kurdish
northern
Syria, and
whether the UN
and Lakhdar
Brahimi had
any contacts
up there.
Spokesperson
Farhan
Haq answered
about
inclusiveness,
presumably of
the Coalition
that just
re-coronated
Ahmad al
Jarba. Then
Haq's office,
just as Zeid
began to
speak,
e-mailed out
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
statement
about
invitations to
the Geneva II
(or Montreux
I) talks
started
January 22. It
did not
include Iran.
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