On
Libya, No UNSC
Agreement Even
on "Ban-like"
Statement, US
Said to Block
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 23 --
Amid the
fighting in
Bani Walid,
Libya, the UN
Security
Council met
Tuesday
morning on a
proposed press
statement
drafted by
Russia. On his
way in,
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
told the press
the draft
tracks what UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
said on the
topic.
But
midway through
the closed
door meeting,
another
Security
Council
member told
Inner City
Press, "we
should pass
something on
Bani Walid but
US not making
it easy."
And
when the
meeting broke
up, the draft
statement
(which Inner
City
Press put
online last
night) had
not been
agreed to. UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant said
that Libyan
authorities
were being
reminded of
international
humanitarian
law.
Inner
City Press
asked Lyall
Grant, who is
doing this
reminding? He
said
his government
and he
believed the
US as well.
Another
Security
Council source
told Inner
City Press
that US would
not
accept the
Council press
statement.
"Nothing until
after the
election," the
source said.
Another said
this first
year
anniversary
was not the
time for a
"discordant
note." And
so it goes at
the UN.
Footnote:
if
the Council
could not
agree on,
essentially,
Ban Ki-moon's
statement on
Bani Walid,
the two
Russian
drafted
statements on
Syria
seem even less
likely to
some. Lakhdar
Brahimi will
brief the
Council by
video in the
morning. Watch
this site.
, 
