As
Small
Arms Summary
is Downgraded,
Another
"Deflating
Friday"
at UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 23 --
"Another
deflating
Friday at the
UN."
That's what
New Zealand's
representative
called the end
of the week's
Small Arms
meeting at the
UN.
The chair,
Nigeria's Joy
Ogwu,
prepared a
summary of the
week's
discussion,
including
references to
border control
and
"additional
issues" --
which the US
was
said to
understand as
"ammunition,"
and to oppose.
It
was the UN
"Program of
Action to
Prevent,
Combat and
Eradicate the
Illicit
Trade in Small
Arms and Light
Weapons in All
Its Aspects,"
and
an issue was
whether to
freeze the
"Program of
Action" in
place, not
allowing it to
deal with new
issues, or to
allow it to
extend into
ammo and other
issues.
It
took place not
longer after
the deadly
explosion of
an ammunition
dump in Congo
-
Brazzaville.
The
summary
referred, for
example, to
"reinforcing
inter-agency
cooperation
to address the
illicit trade
in small arms
and light
weapons across
borders" --
can you say,
Fast and
Furious? --
and "enabling
peace
operations to
further
contribute to
the tracing,
safe storage
and disposal
of illicit
small arms."
But
in the final
hour Ogwu's
summary was
converted from
an annex to
the Report to
a
mere
"Conference
Room Paper."
A
new Paragraph
8
ter was
begrudgingly
agreed to,
qualifying
that "the
Chair's
summary...
does not
represent a
full record of
the issues
discussed
during the
week.. and
does not
prejudge the
outcome
document of
the
Conference."
So what was
the point of
the week?
And
so after 5 pm
on Friday, the
New Zealand
rep raised his
flag and read
out loud a
statement he
has prepared
earlier in the
day, premised
on Ogwu's
summary being
annexed to the
Report. After
he read it, it
said part
was no longer
true, that
"the last
hour" had been
deflating.
Only the last
hour?
This
comes five
weeks after a
similar Friday
at the UN on
the Arms Trade
Treaty,
click here
for that Inner
City Press
story.
Meanwhile on
this Friday
March 23 the
Fifth
Committee
"resumed
session"
budget
negotiations
when into
overtime, with
5th Committee
chairman Tommo
Monthe telling
Inner City
Press they'd
re-assess
program at 8
pm,
including on
scales of
assessment and
Capital Master
Plan cost
overruns.
Watch this
site.
, 
