Yemen
Eclipsed by
Weapons
Seizure &
Iran
Sanctions
Committee, No
Drones
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 7 –
Yemen has been
cited as one
of the
Security
Council's
successes,
about which it
remains very
concerned.
But
Thursday's
sixty-day
briefing by UN
envoy Jamal
Benomar
attracted
interest
mostly due to
the allegation
that weapons
seized by the
government
came from
Iran.
Outside
the
closed door
meeting,
Western
diplomats
primed the
pump speaking
about a
request from
Yemen's Hadi
government to
“the relevant
sanctions
committee” to
investigate
the weapons –
that would be,
the Iran
sanctions
committee.
Thus
primed, when
Benomar came
out to the
stakeout,
after he
vaguely
referred to
spoilers –
which would
seem to refer
to Ali Saleh –
he was asked
by a wire
service much
concerned
about Iran if
the arms
shipment from
Iran
(“allegedly”
from Iran, it
was quickly
pointed
out) was
indicative of
the spoilers
he referred
to.
Benomar
answered,
never naming
the committee
to which the
complaint was
directed. But
it is the
Resolution
1737
Committee, the
Iran Sanctions
committee.
Non-western
diplomats
who had been
in the meeting
told Inner
City Press
that the
weapons and
Iran was a
part, but not
the majority,
of the
discussion.
But the Iran
angle was
being pushed
and promoted
outside.
Inner
City Press
asked Benomar
about the
promised but
delayed
Transitional
Justice law.
He said the UN
would like to
see discussion
of a new
law, that
comports with
international
standards.
Would that
remove
immunity from
Ali Saleh?
During
the Security
Council's trip
they were told
by Nobel Peace
Prize winner
Tawakkol
Karman and
others that
Saleh must be
removed from
politics.
Benomar
complainted
how little of
the $8 billion
pledged to
Yemen has come
through. He
did not
directly
mention it,
but there have
been
protesters in
front of the
Council of
Ministers
office, amid
calls for a
new uprising,
surrounded by
the Fourth
Armoured
Brigade.
As
the session
broke up,
Inner City
Press asked UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant if the
weapons
allegedly from
Iran
took the focus
away from the
Yemen
transition
issues.
Lyall Grant
told Inner
City Press
that
while there is
a move for a
press
statement on
the weapons
issues –
Inner City
Press
understands
that China on
Thursday said
it had to
check with
Beijing –
there is also
a move for a
Presidential
Statement on
the Yemen
issues.
But
will the
weapons
allegedly from
Iran dominate
some coverage?
We will
bet, yes.
While
the Council
met behind
closed doors
about Yemen,
in the Senate
in
Washington
prospective
CIA director
John Brennan
was questioned
about
torture,
Benghazi,
leaks and
especially
drones.
Protesters
unfurled
signs; chair
Diane
Feinstein
excused the
killing of
American
citizens
by drones
since those
targeted were
“not
upstanding.”
(“Not
anymore,”
remarked one
wag.)
UN special
rapporteur Ben
Emmerson was reported
to "endorse"
Brennan as US
CIA chief - strange,
for a UN
affiliated
person.
Inner
City Press at
the UNTV
stakeout tried
to ask Benomar
a question
about
drones, about
the US drone
base in Saudi
Arabia. But
there were
more
Iran questions
to be fielded,
a whole
machinery to
be fed.
If
even the
Western
members of the
Security
Council
acknowledge
that the
weapons
allegedly from
Iran was only
a small part
of Thursday's
discussion,
why it is
pitched,
accepted and
promoted as
the main
story?
Sanctions
footnotes:
On another
sanctions
front, after
the meeting
the
Permanent
Representative
of Eritrea
knocked on the
door to get
into
the Security
Council. He
told Inner
City Press it
was to deliver
a
letter to the
chair of his
(and
Somalia's)
sanctions
committee.
There's
talk
of removing
the arms
embargo on
Somalia. But
will the
Council do
it? Watch this
site.
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