Ban
Floats Syria
Envoy, In Wake
of Al Khatib
Fiasco, No Q
on Lavrov or
Silva
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
News View
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 8 --
After telling
the Security
Council about
his
recent trips,
including to
Gaza where he
was protested
and had shoes
thrown at him
for not
meeting with
the families
of prisoners,
Ban
Ki-moon
emerged and
told the media
he is
discussing a
joint observer
mission and
envoy to Syria
with the Arab
League.
Ban's
envoy to
Libya,
Jordanian
businessman
and senator
Abdel-Elah
Mohamed Al
Khatib,
flew around on
private
planes,
replete with
potential
conflicts of
interest until
he was
unceremoniously
separately
from the UN.
It is
not clear if
on Ban's
recent trip to
Jordan he
sought out his
former
envoy.
Inquiring
minds want to
know: where is
Al Khatib now?
And has
Ban learned
anything from
that failure,
if and when he
ever actually
appoints an
envoy to
Syria?
Even
Western-side
diplomats
expressed
skepticism to
Inner City
Press. It
doesn't seem
very well
thought out,
one said,
referring back
to the Al
Khatib
"fiasco." One
wondered of a
reverse "dream
team" of Al
Khatib and
Observer chief
Al Daby of
Sudan.
Let's see what
the Arab
League says on
Sunday, added
another,
opining that
Ban should not
have "blabbed"
his call with
Nabil Elaraby
of the Arab
League so
quickly.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
chose who
could ask the
four
questions,
naming two at
a time. No
question
involved, for
example, what
Ban thought of
Russian
foreign
minister
Lavrov's trip
to Syria,
which was
presented in
the meeting
with Ban, much
less when Ban
knew that the
US Mission in
South Sudan
had no
military
helicopters,
before
"hundreds"
were killed in
Pibor in
Jonglei state
or why he is
accepting
alleged war
criminal
Shavendra
Silva as a
"Senior
Adviser on
Peacekeeping,"
despite
Silva's
appearance in
Ban's own
Panel of
Experts'
report on Sri
Lanka. [We
will have an
update on Ban
and Silva.]
(c) UN Photo
Ban &
previous envoy
Al Khatib:
with Al Daby,
next step
Syria?
The
first
question on
Syria, at
least it was
assumed to be
about Syria,
was
whether
President
"Bashir"
should step
down. Omar al
Bashir is the
president of
Sudan, with
whom Ban's
envoy Ibrahim
Gambari
recently took
pictures,
despite Bashir
being indicted
by the
International
Criminal Court
for genocide.
Interestingly,
the
Secretariat
air brushed
this gaffe in
its
transcript.
But they can't
change the
video - or can
they?
Bashar
al Assad of
Syria,
meanwhile,
remains in
power in
Syria. Ban
named a UN
system
task force on
Syria headed
by a former
minister of
Yemen dictator
Ali
Saleh,
something
Ban's
spokesman said
he would look
into and
confirm
or deny but
hasn't. Then
he ensures
that Ban
himself can't
be asked. This
is Ban's UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
