By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
The day
Australian
Ambassador
and UN
Security
Council
president for
November Gary
Quinlan got
his program of
work agreed to,
the Council
then met
behind closed
doors on
Libya, South
Sudan and, at
Quinlan's
request,
Burkina Faso.
The Burkina
Faso briefing,
which Inner
City Press
first reported
on Tuesday
morning, was
to have been
by UN envoy to
West Africa
Mohammed ibn
Chambas. But
first a source
told Inner
City Press
that "the
connection was
too weak;"
later, Quinlan
mentioned the
curfew there
as well.
The Security
Council agreed
to "Elements
to the Press"
on Libya; on
South Sudan
and Burkina
Faso, for now
there were
summaries by
Quinlan.
On Burkina
Faso, Inner
City Press asked
Quinlan if there
had been any
discussion of
the spread of
what some call
the African Spring,
noting for
example that a
statute of
Joseph Kabila
was toppled in
Beni in
Eastern Congo,
even as Kabila
asks UN
Peacekeeping
for military
support.
Quinlan said
there has been
some
discussion of
the regional
aspect, but
not in detail.
Inner City
Press asked if
France had
acknowledged
in the
Council's
consultations
having helped
Burkina Faso's
27 year ruler
-- who came to
power on the
back, so to
speak, of
Thomas Sankara
-- escape the
country.
Quinlan said
he hadn't heard
of the
allegation
that France
help Compaore
get away.
Well, here it
is: president
Francois
Hollande told
reporters in
Quebec City
that "we did
it... to avoid
drama and
other
convulsions."
On South
Sudan, Quinlan
did not engage
with a staged
question -- a
US official
tells a media
what it has
told the Council,
the media
passes it
through then
asks the
Council
president
about it --
but did say,
in answer to
another's
question, that
Australia is
in favor of an
arms embargo.
All afternoon
it was said
that Libya envoy
Bernardino
Leon would
take press
questions. But
when he left,
it was
straight out
of the UN. The
question will
have to wait,
then. Not so
with Quinland
on Day One (or
Two), to his
credit.
Midday
on November 4
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.”
(To explain, UNCA is
an organization
whose board
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
becoming the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.)
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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