As
China Heads
UNSC, ICP Asks
of Boko Haram
and Burundi,
For Stakeouts
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 3 --
With China
taking over
the UN
Security
Council
presidency for
February,
Chinese
Permanent
Representative
Liu Jieyi on
February 3
fielded
questions from
the media. Video here and embedded below.
Inner City
Press, after
requesting
that he hold
question and
answer
stakeouts
after Council
consultations,
asked
Ambassador Liu
about the
regional fight
against Boko
Haram, and
about Burundi
being in the
footnotes of
the Program of
Work for the
month.
Ambassador Liu
said that
China supports
African
countries'
"rising up"
against
terrorism and
Boko Haram and
stands ready
to support any
such request,
saying that
other
countries
should "rally
around" it.
Inner City
Press has previously
reported
on Chad's
request
for a
resolution.
How much
longer?
On Burundi,
Ambassador Liu
explained that
items are put
in the
footnotes at
the request of
a Council
member, and
expressed a
desire that
Burundi
progress with
reconciliation,
economic and
social
development
(the elections
are upcoming.)
Other items in
the footnotes
for this month
are Ukraine,
Mali and the
Central
African
Republic.
Ambassador Liu
said that no
Council member
has yet
expressed an
intention to
table a
resolution
about
Palestine in
February. He
was asked if
the debate
scheduled for
February 23 is
targeted at
any country
and said no.
He answered a
final question
about poverty
reduction by
referring to
the post-2015
development
goals, noting
however that
these are
beyond the
mandate of the
Security
Council.
Yemen will be
considered on
February 11 --
who will be in
charge them?
The son of Ali
Saleh? The
Houthis? Iraq
will be
considered on
February 17;
current UN
envoy Mladenov
is, as Inner
City Press first
reported on
January 30,
slated to move
to replace
Robert Serry
as UN Special
Coordinator on
the Middle
East. So who
will replace
Mladenov in
Iraq? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
The request
that Security
Council
presidents
give a summary
of closed-door
consultations,
and take
questions on
that topic, is
one that the Free UN Coalition for Access had made
and will
continue to
make to each
incoming
Security
Council
president.
Countries'
willingness to
explain the
Security
Council's
working so
that the
public,
particularly
the impacted
public, can
understanding
is not always
what knee-jerk
coverage of
the Council
would have one
believe. Watch
this site.
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