In
Spain's UNSC
Month,
Settlements
Maybe, Burundi
& W
Sahara,
Nothing on
Yemen?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 1 --
With Spain
taking over
the Presidency
of the UN
Security
Council in
December, the
last month of
its two year
term on the
Council,
Spanish
Ambassador
Román Oyarzun
Marchesi on
December 1 took
questions
about the Program
of Work for
the month.
Strangely,
Yemen was not
listed in the
calendar, or
even the
footnotes.
Inner City
Press when
called on
asked Oyarzun
about that
omission,
whether
“Peacekeeping
Operations” in
the footnotes
includes
Western
Sahara, and
how the
Council will
follow up on
its resolution
to send UN
Police to
Burundi.
Periscope
video here,
even before it
goes up on UN
Webcast
archive.
On Western
Sahara,
Oyarzun noted
that Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon -- who
will get his
own Council
tribute
resolution on
December 14 --
met with
Morocco's King
while in
Marrakesh.
There's
yet to be a
read-out of
that meeting,
at least as
relates to the
peacekeepers
expelled from
the MINURSO
peacekeeping
mission who
are still
banned from
returning.
Oyarzun said
that some
members might
ask for an
“Any Other
Business”
meeting about
this.
We'll have
more on the
answers about
Yemen and
Burundi, as
both
situations
appear to be
disintegrating.
Inner City
Press for the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
encouraged
Oyarzun to do
question and
answer
stakeouts
after Council
consultations.
Oyarzun said
that there
might be
action on
Settlements in
connection
with the
December 16
meeting about
the Middle
East and
Palestine. He
explained the
absence of
North Korea
human rights
from the
agenda by
noting that a
procedural
vote would be
required to
hold the
meeting, with
nine positive
votes.
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