On
Arms Trade
Treaty, Draft
Excludes
Grenades &
Ammo as
US Wants
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
24, updated
w/ comment
-- When the
Arms Trade
Treaty talks
resumed Tuesdy
at 2 pm, the
omission of
ammunition
from the new
draft's
coverage
immediately
drew negative
comments from
Nigeria, which
said guns are
just a
"delivery
device," it's
the bullets
that kill. Click here for
the new draft,
put online
by Inner City
Press.
The
United
States, as its
mission to the
UN confirmed
to Inner City
Press, was
and is against
including
ammunition in
any treaty. And
lo
and behold it
was not in.
Neither were
grenades,
despite the
recent
news of Swiss
made grenades
showing up in
Syria, via the
United Arab
Emirates.
Cote
d'Ivoire gave
a wide ranging
speech, citing
"old
president"
Laurent
Gbagbo's
force's use of
heavy weapons,
which France
raised in
the Security
Council then
had its Force
Licorne put an
end to.
But
Cote d'Ivoire,
beyond asking
that more of
the
negotiations
be in
French, also
mentioned
Senegal's
Casamance, a
conflict
rarely
mentioned at
the UN.
The
plenary
session began
with a minute
of silence
with John Atta
Mills,
the president
of Ghana who'd
just died.
Then the
Argentine
president
of the ATT
launched into
a long analogy
of treaty
negotiation
and the
tango.
When he
referred to
the
"synchronization
of bodies,"
there was
laugher in the
standing room
only
conference
room.
The
UK made
another
obvious
analogy, to
the Olympics:
it's been a
six
year marathon,
now it is a
sprint. The
deadline is
Friday. Watch
this
site.
Update
of 7:45 am --
From:
Edmund GROVE
[at] unops.org
Date: Wed, Jul
25, 2012 at
4:06
AM
Subject:
Comment on "
Arms Trade
Treaty, Draft
Excludes
Grenades &
Ammo as US
Wants"
To:
matthew.lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Hi
Matthew, I
liked your
article on the
arms treaty,
which
highlighted
the omission
of grenades
and
ammunition. I
wanted to ask,
what about
the trade in
mines? Seems
important
given that the
UN spends so
much
on demining,
or is that
already
covered
elsewhere
under another
pre-existing
treaty?
Thanks
for your
comment,
Edmund, and
you are right.
More than one
delegate /
negotiators in
the ATT
plenary
yesterday
mentioned
mines to me. I
think it was
vaguely
because there
IS a landmine
treaty that I
focused on
ammunition --
the exclusion
of which the
US has loudly
demanded,
leading to
ECOWAS
countries
yesterday
threatening
not to
sign on -- and
hand grenades.
But you are
right about
mines, and
this
piece will be
add it before
it does into,
for example,
Lexis - Nexis.
Thanks.
, 
