China's
Li
Baodong Links
Mali &
Libya Weapons,
Returns for
Arab League
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 4 -- When
China's UN
Ambassador Li
Baodong came
Monday
to tell the
press about
June's agenda
for the
Security
Council, most
of the
questions
asked of him
concerned
Syria. The
first
question,
strangely, was
whether the
upcoming G-20
meeting in Los
Cabos, Mexico
would address
Syria.
Li
Baodong did
not at first
address that
part of the
question, and
the reason was
simple. In a
10:30 briefing
held in the
same
auditorium,
Mexico's
"sherpa" for
the G-20,
Lourdes
Aranda, had
told another
Syria-obsessed
correspondent
that, no,
Syria is not
on the agenda
of
the G-20
meeting.
Inner
City Press
asked Li
Baodong about
the civil war
in Mali,
whether it's
true that
the African
Union Peace
& Security
Council is
really
bringing
Mali to the UN
on June 13. Li
Baodong said
the topics
that day will
include Sudan
/ South Sudan,
Somalia and,
yes, Mali.
Unlike
much of the
Western
discussion of
Mali in the
Security
Council, Li
Baodong
referred to
weapons
flowing into
the Malian
conflict from
elsewhere
in the area --
that would be
Libya -- and
said that the
root causes
of the
conflict have
to be
considered.
He
answered the
often
repetitive
questions at
some length,
and ever
returned to
the
podium to
answer one
more, about an
informal
interactive
dialogue
with the Arab
League, after
UN Television
seemed to have
stopped. (If
they don't put
the video up,
Inner City
Press will
later, on its
YouTube
channel.)
Not
on the agenda
or program of
work is the
for-a-time
standard
horizon
scanning
briefing by
the Department
of Political
Affairs. When
Inner City
Press asked
about it, Li
Baodong said
that Council
members are
free
to ask for
whatever
briefings they
need, and that
Mali will be
addressed on
June 13.
Not
in the
footnotes of
the printed
program of
work
distributed on
Monday, but
mentioned by
Li Baodong,
was "Children
and Armed
Conflict,"
on which a
usually
contentious
report is due.
We'll have
more on
this, and
other matters
throughout the
month: watch
this site.
Footnote:
Inner City
Press also
asked Lourdes
Aranda for
Mexico's view
of the
relationship
between the
G-20 and the
UN and its
("G-193")
General
Assembly, and
about the
so-called
Volcker Rule
which among
other things
would ban US
banks from
investing in
some public
securities of
other
countries.
Her
answer about
the UN was
telling, that
it can lack
focus (that's
an
understatement).
On the Volcker
Rule, she said
this is what
the G-20
is for: to
talk about in
advance the
impact of a
particular
countries
legal changes
on other
countries. So
will the G-20
chime in on
the
Volcker Rule?
Watch this
site.
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