At
UN
on Libya, Ban Behind Closed Doors, Ukraine Clarifies, Turkey's
Request
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 24 -- The involvement of the UN and Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon in the military action on Libya is meant to give the
action and bombing legitimacy.
But there has been little transparency
to date about Ban and Libya, beginning with who pays
his envoy Abdul
Ilah Al-Khatib, click here for that.
But
even Ban's
briefing to the Security Council on March 24 will be two thirds or
more in secret. The Council presidency has told Inner City Press that
after a “one page” open briefing by Ban on Resolution 1973, he
will move behind closed doors to brief on “The Situation in Libya,”
then about his protested trips to Egypt and Tunisia.
His
short briefing
on 1973 will involving enumerating the countries which have provided
notifications under the resolution. This is currently presented as
twelve, but as Inner City Press reported
on March 23, the status of
Ukraine is in flux.
Ukraine
provided
notice, then sent subsequent letters that all they want to do is come
in to take their nationals out. Now moves are afoot to create two
lists: those supporting military action, and those providing notice
for a exemption from the no fly zone.
Even the
African Union may have
to provide such a notice -- but it has not supported the military
action.
Now
Turkey is
asking the UN to provide some clarification to NATO, and the UN
Department of Political Affairs is not sure how to respond.
The
Libya
Sanctions committee provided for by resolution 1970 has yet to meet.
Now, Inner City Press is informed that it will meet on March 25, then
brief the Council on short turn around on March 28. Will all these
sessions be closed? Watch this site.
* *
*
With
UN
on Libya, 12 Notifiers May Mean Less Than That: Ukraine &
UAE Cases
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
23 -- Still only 12
countries are listed as having
provided notice to the UN under Security Council Resolution 1973, the
same number as on the morning of March 22.
The
number of actual
“partners” may even be lower. Beyond backtracking by the United
Arab Emirates, based on “the West's position on Bahrain,” a well
placed Council diplomat on Wednesday morning told Inner City Press
that Ukraine, despite being announced by the UN as a notifier, is
primarily concerned with its own citizens.
On
Tuesday, after first
reporting Ukraine on the Security Council's list, Inner City
Press questioned
how
a country which took more than a month to come
through with attack helicopters for the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire
would be able to meaningfully participate in what the US is calling
Operation Odyssey Dawn.
While
the
UN's
list of twelve is sometimes presented as a list of supporters of the
no fly zone and even bombing, when Pressed at Wednesday's noon
briefing, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky
insisted he had made it clear on Tuesday that these are only letter
writers.
Here
is
what
Nesirky said on March 22, about the UAE not yet Ukraine:
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
They
notified the Secretariat under the terms of the
resolution. I did not say that they will be taking part in enforcing
a no-fly zone; I didn’t say that... I haven’t seen their
notification, the specific letter, I haven’t seen that letter. We
need to be clear that each of the countries, when notifying the
Secretariat and when we transmit that notification to the Security
Council, that notification can take different forms. The content is
not the same for each one. Each country is saying something
different about what measures it is taking or simply how it is
supporting the resolution. But the details of each of those would
need to come from the Member States concerned...If a Member State
requests that a document should be circulated, in other words, made
an official document that is circulated and available, then that will
be done. But I don’t know any specific case what has happened.
The
UN's daily
Journal does on a delay include the letters, at least Ukraine's
initial letter - click here.
But
Council sources say that Ukraine's
position is not as described.
Inner
City
Press
asked Nesirky if, even belatedly, the Secretary General and his
Spokesperson's Office can provide public disclosure of these letters
more frequently than the day's noon briefing. When we get then, we'll
tell you, Nesirky said. We'll see.
Footnotes:
Inner
City
Press asked Nesirky if Ban Ki-moon would like his
briefing(s) on March 24 to teh Security Council to be public -- the
one about his trip is thought to be closed door, but why shouldn't
his briefing about Resolution 1973 be public? Punting, Nesirky said
that is entirely up to the Council. So much for leadership on
transparency.
Nesirky
also
refused again to state whether Ban's envoy to Libya al-Khatib is a
UN staff member, an Under Secretary General, or to confirm that he is
still paid -- in seeming violation of the UN Charter -- by the
government of Jordan, a country which has not yet notified under
Resolution 1973 despite UK claims.
, 
