By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
When
Australian
Ambassador
Gary Quinlan
got the UN
Security
Council
program of
work agreed to
for his month
as Council
president on
November 4, an
item was added
to that
afternoon's
schedule at
this request:
Burkina Faso.
Inner
City Press,
staking-out
the Council
meeting, heard
that Burkina
Faso and the
ouster of
Blaise
Compaore would
be addressed
that
afternoon, and
reported it
- but not who
had requested
it. Since
France has
“held the pen”
on its other
former
colonies from
Mali to
Central
African
Republic, some
assumed they'd
made the
request. But,
in perhaps a
good sign, it
was Australia.
After
the day's UN
noon briefing,
Quinlan and at
least three
members of his
team came to brief
the press.
Quinlan gave a
more detailed
than usual
opening
statement, far
from
uninteresting,
and then the
questions --
and to some,
the problems
-- began.
The
first question
was set aside
for the old UN
Correspondents
Association,
a former
Reuters
reporter who
asked about
“The Ukraine.”
Next came
France 24,
then Agence
France Presse
and a US state
media.
At that point
Inner City
Press, on
behalf of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
noted
that the
correspondent
for Al
Mayadeen, with
a different
perspective,
stood up and
walked out.
Was it a
message?
Seems
so: the next
was Associated
Press and then
Newsweek /
Israel Radio,
with questions
about the
Golan Heights
and North
Korea. Inner
City Press,
called on
next, thanked
Quinlan for
FUNCA and
asked that he
hold Q&A
stakeouts
after each
closed
consultation.
(He said, to
his credit,
that's the
plan.)
Inner
City Press
asked the
legal basis
for airstrikes
on Syria and
if
international
law wouldn't
be better
served by
seeking
Security
Council
approval.
Quinlan said
no member of
the Council
has brought it
up, and that
his own
country is
acting in Iraq
under a
request from
that country's
government,
and is sending
a couple
hundred
trainers.
Quinlan
has
scheduled a
briefing and,
he hopes,
adoption of a
“technical”
resolution on
sanctions for
November 25.
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
“regime
change” letter
by Somalia and
Eritrea
Monitoring
Group expert
Dinesh
Mahtani, which
it exclusively
published
and which led
to Mahtani's
resignation. Mahtani's
letter, here,
referred twice
to Australia.
Quinlan
said
the training
and
qualification
of experts
will be
discussed and
addressed, and
that
impartiality
“must be a
given.” We'll
have more on
this.
The
briefing
continued with
Voice of
America - a
second US
state media,
both under the
US
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors;
perhaps for
that reason
after the
former Reuters
UN reporter
was called on,
the current
stood in the
back with a
member of the
Australian
mission
delegation.
Then,
described as
the last
question, came
Al Jazeera,
saying it
“heard” that
Burkina Faso
would be
addressed in
the Council
and asking
when). The
briefing was
set to end --
when there was
a (polite)
rebellion.
A
reporter from
Armenian media
said she had
her hand
raised the
whole time,
and asked
about Ukraine.
Quinlan to his
credit decided
to stay and
answer. Here's
hoping its a
harbinger of
the coming
Security
Council month,
at least in
terms of
accessibility
to the media.
Watch this
site.
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