On
Syria, UNDOF Vote Delayed, Russia's Blue Text Blended With US, France
& UK Want Reference to Unrest
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 28, updated -- The
Security Council's resolution on the UN Disengagement Observer Force
UNDOF, initially scheduled to be adopted June 28, has been
delayed amid whether and how to reflect recent events in Syria.
A
special
consulation on the UNDOF resolution began June 28 at 11 am, with a
slew of Deputy Permanent Representatives including France's, South
Africa's, Bosnia's and Russia's Pankin rushing in.
When
Russia said
late on June 23 that they had put their version of the resolution on
the UN mission UNDOF “into blue,” some other Security Council
members disagreed.
A full 24
hours later, a Western Council member
told Inner City Press that Russia hadn't really put a text into blue,
just the “idea of what the Secretariat would have proposed.”
This
Western
member predicted that after the June 27 consultations on the American
draft, when UNDOF came up for a vote then scheduled for June 28, there
would be a procedural vote on Russia's, to declare it not blue,
not the first.
But
an expert in
Council procedure consulted by Inner City Press disagreed. What
Russia did was within the definition of being “in blue,” the
expert said and predicted that Russia's draft would have to be voted
on first.
While
some
questioned Russia's tactic, other defended it as adhering to
tradition in terms of “substance if not form.”
UNDOF exercises: on fire, blue text not shown
On
June 27,
Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative Pankin told Inner City
Press, “Our text is on the table.” He said that a June 28 vote
was possible, but that it did not need to be done before the end of
the month.
On
June 28 it
emerged that UNDOF would not be voted on that morning. Instead, a
round of consultations with DPRs was held.
Back
on June 24,
the Security Council adopted a press statement on Yemen, expressing
concern at violence and welcoming the GCC mediation. On Syria, a
press statement was blocked by Lebanon, as a presidential statement
may now be. The composition of the Council has its effect. Watch this
site.
Footnote: meanwhile
Inner City Press has his morning published a letter to the editor about
Syria strategy from US Under-Secretary for State Judith McHale, click here to
view.
Update of 11:35 am
-- it's said that the Russian and US texts are blending, with reference
to what has happened in UNDOF's Golan Heights area, but others --
"France and the UK," a source tells Inner City Press -- want to refer
to "broader Syria."
Update of 12:35 pm
-- the argument is that unrest elsewhere in Syria has spread into the
UNDOF zone, and that the ceasefire there is being undermined.
Consultations continue on the "blended" text.
* * *
At
UN,
“Going
Through Motions” on Syria Resolution, Attending Just
to Listen
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
17 -- When UN Security Council experts met Friday
morning about the long
pending Syria draft resolution, China and
Russia attended, unlike on Saturday, June 11. But China said they are
not prepared to negotiate about the text, “just listen,” Inner
City Press is informed.
The
Permanent Representative of another Council member told Inner City
Press, “With
two veto threats, the West is just going through the motions.”
Three
hours later
outside the Security Council's so-called “horizon briefing” at
which Syria was one of five agenda items, a Western Council member's
representative told Inner City Press that in the closed door meeting,
comments were made that the refusal to engage of “certain members”
made the Council look bad. This did not seem to much impact those
with a veto.
Rather,
the
resolution's proponents are now openly calling out those whose
foreign ministers have made comments about the resolution, to come
and negotiate around specifics in the text.
South
African's foreign
minister this week told the press that a Syria resolution could
“insinuate regime change.” The response seems to be, show us
where in the text the insinuation can be found. But the concern may
not be only or even mostly textual.
Ban & Assad, UN Panel of Experts Report not shown but here
Ban
Ki-moon has
been in Brazil, but his spokesperson's office's read-outs of meetings
with the president and foreign minister do not mention any discussion
of Brazil's position on the resolution. Ban is seeking a vote on a
second five year term as Secretary General on June 21. Watch this
site.
Footnote:
the
non-attendance
at last Saturday's meeting on the draft Syria
resolution was explained as a matter of worker's rights: only work on
weekends if necessary, and since no change of voting Monday or
Tuesday, why meet Saturday? So further weekend sessions, at least on
Syria, seem unlikely.
* * *
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