UNITED
NATIONS, April
1 -- The
monthly UN
Security
Council
program of
work
is usually
decided on
before or
during the
bilateral
meetings that
take place on
the month's
first day
between the
new president
and
each of the 14
other members.
But
not today.
Inner City
Press
staked-out the
bilateral
meetings --
click
here for
example for an
interchange
with South
Korea's
Ambassasador
Kim Sook
-- and
monitored one
lack of
decision.
When
should the
briefing on
Mali be held?
At the day's
UN noon
briefing,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey
said the Mali
briefing by UN
official
Jeffrey
Feltman would
be on
Tuesday, April
2.
In fact
he dodged a
question about
Mali on that
basis: wait
until
tomorrow.
But
it's not that
simple. There
are supposed
to be four
days between
Council
members having
the documents,
in all
languages, and
such a
meeting.
And as
even after the
last two
bilateral
meetings, between
the Rwandan
delegation led
by Permanent
Representative
Eugene-Richard
Gasana and
the
US' Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo and
then Chinese
Permanent
Representative
Li Baodong
were done,
April 2 was
not agreed
to.
Inner
City Press
learned from
sources that
while France
wanted it on
April
2, as
announced by
Ban's deputy
spokesman,
Russia for
example wanted
it April 4,
citing the
rule.
It
was France
which rushed a
final Mali
meeting in
March, without
the
report
translated.
Afterward,
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard
Araud -- not
seen on Monday
at the Council
-- told Inner
City Press
that whether
a French
“parallel
force” in Mali
would be under
UN
control
was a good
question, it
hadn't come up
in that day's
meeting.
Well,
that day's
meeting was
rushed.
Now
in the dispute
between French
April 2 and
Russian April
4 there's
talk of a
compromise:
Wednesday,
April 3. How
very UN.
Another
UN
Security
Council trend,
and not a bad
one, is for
elected
members
to push at
least one
issue during
their two year
term,
sometimes
resulting in
an ongoing
thematic
resolution.
So it
was for
protection
of journalists
in armed
conflict. Why
not protection
of medical
personnel?
Inner City
Press asked
the Australian
Permanent
Representative
Gary Quinlan
and his
political
coordinator;
they said
the issue has
been raised,
and that now
in Syria more
people are
dying of
secondary
consequences
of trauma than
immediately
when hit.
Is
there a
resolution
coming on?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
when
political
coordinators
met later
Monday
afternoon,
each was
given by
Rwanda some
coffee to
brew, and a
book about the
country.
This month
there are a
number of
commemorations
of the 1994
genocide,
including a
documentary on
April 9.
Some
have wondered
whether UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous will
be
there, given
his role as
France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
in
1994 arguing
for saving the
genocidaires
through
Operation
Turquoise.
Inner City
Press has
tried to ask
Ladsous about
it; the
response was
to simply stop
answering any
of Inner City
Press'
question. Video
here.
We'll
be here all
month. Watch
this site.
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