At
UN
on Libya, the UAE, Norway, Spain, Ukraine & Belgium Give Notice of
Action
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 22, updated -- The United Arab Emirates, Norway, Spain, Ukraine
and Belgium have
provided notification to the UN they intend to take action in Libya
under Security
Council Resolution 1973, Inner City Press is reliably
informed.
While
Resolution
1973 requires countries taking action on Libya to give prior
notification to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Ban's spokesman Martin
Nesirky did not answer repeated e-mail requests in the days after the
resolution passed for a list of notifying countries. Even at the noon
briefing of March 21, he did not have the list.
At
3:30 on Monday
afternoon his office sent out an email listing “United Kingdom,
France, United States, Denmark, Canada, Italy and Qatar” and saying
that “those notifications have been transmitted to the Security
Council.”
Since
the UN's
involvement in the military campaign in and over Libya is one of its
attractions for some, it would seem the UN should more quickly and
transparently disclose the notifications to the public, and describe
the “coordinating” role assigned to Ban Ki-moon in Resolution
1973.
The
Security
Council Affairs unit worked hard over the weekend, but they are not
the Spokesperson. They have not yet set up their own web site to make
disclosures. But the Spokesperson's Office is lagging behind.
Inner City Press
can now report that Spain, Norway, UAE,
Ukraine and Belgium have provided
notifications to the UN under Resolution 1973.
There
-- was that
so hard?
Update 1: to his
credit, UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant rattled off the
twelve names (the seven named yesterday, and five coming after.) This
was confirmed by another P-5 country. A non permanent member's
Permanent Representative was amazed that the names are not better made
public.
Update 2: regarding
Ukraine, it's worth nothing that it took weeks for Ukraine's parliament
to authorized attack helicopters for the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire,
leading to the question: how fast can or will Ukraine move after giving
notice?
Inner City
Press has suggested to a P-5 Council member that a sign board be
erected in front of the Council with the number -- and names -- of
Libya notifiers under Resolution 1973. "Good idea," the P-5
representative said. But will it happen?
Footnotes:
one
reason for the dysfunctional relationship between the
Spokesperson's Office and Security Council Affairs is that the
Spokesman was ejected from Council consultations, and did little more
to oppose this than a conciliatory and ineffective letter from Ban's
chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. Now when Security Council Affairs gets
information of global interest, the Spokesperson's Office does not
report it in anything like real time. Thus the UN decays. Watch this
site.
* * *
On
Libya,
As UN Council Punts Until Thursday, Mystery of Courtesy
Passes, Lamamra, Spain & Norway
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 22 -- With bombs, and at least one US plane, dropping
on Libya, the UN Security Council on Monday declined to “take
cognizance” of a letter from Gaddafi's foreign minister Moussa
Koussa, putting off the matter until a briefing by Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon in three days.
Ban
is supposed to
be coordinating enforcement of the No Fly Zone provided by Council
resolution 1973. At the UN's noon briefing on Monday, Inner City
Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky to describe the
coordination he is giving.
The
answer was
that he attended Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting in Paris on March 19, and
is taking in notifications of the countries doing the bombing and
transmitting these to the Security Council.
Later on
Monday, Ban's
Spokesperson's Office squawked that seven countries had thus far
provided notice: the US, UK, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy and a
single Arab country, Qatar.
The
European side
of the list seems to have omissions, like Norway and Spain which is
providing refueling. But what of Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia?
Are the last two too busy in Bahrain?
After
the
Security Council kept Moussa Koussa at arms length -- and Russian
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin admonished a Western spokesman for spinning
the press about it, click here for that story -- the Council held a
closed meeting about Sudan.
Inner City
Press asked Sudan's Ambassador for his country's position
on the action in Libya. We are members of the Arab League, he said,
we support that position.
But
isn't Sudan
also a member of the African Union, which has criticized the bombing,
and couldn't even get into the country as provided for in the
resolution? We are a member of both, Sudan's Ambassador said, leaving
the UN microphone.
Dabbashi previously at UN, courtesy pass not shown
or explained
In
explanation of
the African Union position there is not only the money and support
Gaddafi threw around the Continent for so long -- there is also the
under reported role on the AU Peace & Security Council of Ramtane
Lamamra of Algeria, a country which has strongly supported Gaddafi.
On Monday, Lamamra apparently lost his cell phone, as he didn't
answer repeated media calls seeking his comment or explanation.
The
UN, for its
part, did not explain the meaning of the “courtesy passes”
spokesman Nesirky said that Ibrahim Dabbashi and Shalgam have been
reduced to.
Inner City
Press asked a lower ranking Libyan diplomat,
who said “at least they still have passes.” He added that it is
Shalgam who will decide who will speak for Libya on Thursday.
Watch this site.
* * *
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