At UN,
Phrasing of Concern for Lebanese Shepherd Breaks Logjam, Darfur Still on Hold
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, January 10 -- Concern for a single
shepherd, and how that concern should be phrased, explains the reading-out at
5:40 p.m. of a press statement on Lebanon by the president of the Security
Council for this month, Libya's Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi. The draft prepared
by France on January 9 took "note of the incident that occurred near the Blue
Line in the Halta area on January 7, urging the expeditious marking of the Blue
Line to prevent inadvertent violations." The reference was to a shepherd taken
into Israeli custody, Lebanon says from Halta on the Lebanese side of the Blue
Line, Israel says on their side. That version was did not survive. The final
statement says that all Council members "expressed their concern for the
incident that occurred near the Blue Line in the Halta area on January 7, as
referred to in the Lebanese permanent representative's letter dated 8 January.
They looked forward to the completion of UNIFIL's investigation."
The question arises whether
the draft Presidential Statement about the attack on UN peacekeepers in Darfur,
still being considered behind closed doors by the Council, will contain a
similar reference to an investigation, even though now the Sudanese military has
acknowledged being responsible for the attack. At 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, Inner
City Press asked Amb. Ettalhi about the status of the Darfur PRST and was told,
"Really, it is difficult for me to state now." Video
here, from Minute 4:35. Later
Thursday night French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told Inner City Press that
the Darfur presidential statement has a chance of being passed on Friday. He
said that initially Libya's means of negotiation was simply to say no, and no.
He added that those questioning the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations'
account of the attack included not only Libya, but also Russia, South Africa,
Indonesia and Burkina-Faso. He said he feels vindicated, having been the one in
the Council on Wednesday to say enough was enough, DPKO had spoken. How Sudan
will explain the change of its position is not yet clear.
UN patrols Southern Lebanon,
shepherd not shown
On the
European Union's delayed peacekeeping force slated for Chad and the Central
African Republic, Amb. Ripert confirmed that France is stepping up its
commitment and that now the EU deployment can begin. "It will be announced in
Brussels tomorrow," he said, adding that some details of payments to Chad are
still being finalized. He explained some of the negotiations around the UN's
MINURCAT mission for Chad and CAR as being attributable to the U.S. Congress
wanting less of the resources to come from the main peacekeeping budget, and
France wanting more. Similarly, the UK wanted to pay less for the EU force in
Chad and CAR, while France wanted more of its costs to be shared. It usually
comes down to money, Amb. Ripert said. Click
here for
today's Inner City Press story about the UN's $250 million no-bid contract with
Lockheed Martin for Darfur, now being reviewed by the UN's Office of Internal
Oversight Services.
* * *
These reports are also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
Because a number of Inner City Press'
UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and
while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this
installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the
UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails
coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue
trying, and keep the information flowing.
Feedback: Editorial
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Other, earlier Inner
City Press are listed here, and
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UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540