At
UN
on Libya, US
Pushes $1.5 B
"Package Deal"
Including to
"Int'l
Mechanism",
Snubbing S.
African $500 M
Offer?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 24 --
While calling
the needs of Libya's
National
Transitional
Council
"urgent," the
US is
declining a
stated
offer from
South Africa
to immediately
release for
humanitarian
purposes $500
million in
frozen Libyan
funds.
The
US says it
asked for $1.5
billion in the
UN Security
Council's
Libya
Sanctions
Committee on
August 8, and
that the three
$500 million
tranches can
or will not be
separated:
they are a
"package."
The draft
resolution
handed out by
the US
Wednesday
afternoon
includes not
only $500
million into
the UN Appeal,
$500 million
to third-party
venors and an
"international
mechanism...
up to $500
million."
South
Africa says
that the
Portuguese
chair of the
Sanctions
Committee has
"in
correspondence"
confirmed that
the
humanitarian
$500 million
could be
immediately
released. The
US is instead
circulating a
resolution,
which could
survive a
negative vote
by South
Africa -- but
not Russia
or China --
for decision
"Thursday or
Friday."
Some
view South
Africa as
being
intransigent,
as still being
"in the bag"
for Gaddafi.
In this view,
the draft
resolution to
unfreeze $1.5
billion and
release some
of it directly
to the
National
Transitional
Council will
"isolate"
South Africa.
Others
say it is
the US which
is playing
politics,
trying to make
African Union
member
South Africa
go along with
the full $1.5
billion amount
including
direct
transfer to
the TNC, or
look like
South Africa
is, well, in
the bag for
Gaddafi.
Further
background
was the
repeated
reports of
South African
planes on the
tarmac in
Tripoli, some
said to help
Gaddafi flee
the country.
UN
sources tell
Inner City
Press that the
planes got
stranded there
with
a lack of
fuel.
Ultimate
background
is the report
from UN
"post-conflict"
envoy on
Libya Ian
Martin to Ban
Ki-moon, which
a well placed
UN official
tells Inner
City Press
says we "can't
count on the
African
Union."
Another
UN
official on
Wednesday told
Inner City
Press that
Martin is
"taking
over" for Al
Khatib, who
"got hammered"
for not having
a written
post-conflict
plan.
Meanwhile Al
Khatib chafed
at Martin
traveling to
Doha with him
as an equal.
So, for the on
Libya, a
Jordanian or a
Brit -- or an
Italo-Argentine.
What about an
African?
Watch this
site.
* * *
On
Libya
In-Fighting at
UN: "Don't
Count on AU,"
Italy, UK v
Pascoe's US
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23 --
As the UN
vies for a
role in "post
conflict"
Libya,
there is
conflict
inside the UN
about how to
proceed. Ian
Martin, with
outside
consultants,
prepared a
report on the
topic. Inner
City Press is
informed by a
source
familiar with
the report
that it
advises not to
count on the
African Union.
This
has increased
animosity
between mostly
African staff
in the
Department of
Political
Affairs'
Africa
Division and
Ian Martin.
They ask why a
Brit who never
went to Libya
was given this
position. Now
as the UN
considers who
would be their
top man in
Libya, Martin
wants the top.
The
Italians,
sources say,
are quietly
trying to
replace the UK
in the lead of
the UN's
efforts on
Libya. While
listed as
Argentinian,
current DPA
official Oscar
Fernandez
Taranco is
also viewed as
an Italian
candidate for
the future
Libya job.
Lead
mediator Al
Khatib, whose
job was
partial lost
to Martin and
is now largely
moot, having
failed, is
also no fan of
Martin, and
reportedly
opposed Martin
going as an
equal to meet
with the
National
Transitional
Council in
Doha.
The
purpose of
that trip,
both
Secretariat
officials and
diplomats
says, is for
the UN to hear
what the NTC
wants from the
UN. But the
NTC has itself
already
prepared
reports on
that, and it
calls into
question: what
has Ian Martin
been doing for
all these
months?
Martin
has assembled
a team, based
in the
so-called
Teachers'
(TIAA-CREF)
Building on
Third Avenue,
including
staff seconded
from the UK,
and from UNDP
(where Taranco
used to work).
But what have
they been doing?
Ban & Ian
Martin, who's
yet to brief
the press:
"post
conflict"?
Inner
City Press on
Tuesday asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq why a copy of
the report UN
consultant
(and Dartmouth
professor)
Dirk
Vandewalle has
been bragging
about having
written for
Ban would
not be made
available to
the press and
public, or at
least to the
member states.
It is not
public, he
said.
The
in-fighting
inside Ban's
Department of
Political
Affairs takes
place with DPA
chief Lynn
Pascoe viewed
as a lame duck
who is
leaving, but
who wants to
undermine the
UK which has
long sought
his job.
Pascoe
promoting
Martin for the
Libya post is
view, by DPA
sources, as a
way to make UK
re-capture of
the top job at
DPA less
likely. But
Martin is not
a
Conservative,
these sources
say, so it
might not
work.
Beyond
the
in-fighting,
many powerful
countries
don't much
care who would
lead a UN
mission in
Libya, as they
are assured
they could
place their
people in the
mission, for
any number of
purposes.
Meanwhile
the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
leaderless
even as Jerome
Bonnafont
receives cards
from French
politicians
like
Jean-Marie
Bockel
congratulating
him for
getting the
top job,
wants a piece
of the Libya
action. DPKO
argues that
they have the
capacity, from
previous
missions,
while Martin's
team has
little
experience.
If
there is any
police or
peacekeeping
component of a
UN mission in
Libya, DPKO
takes it over.
DPA wants to
keep it, and
may therefore
paint an
overly rose
picture of the
security
situation, now
and in the
future.
So
even if or as
Libya becomes
"post
conflict," it
appears that
Ban Ki-moon's
UN will itself
remain "in
conflict."
Watch this
site.
, 
in