At
UN
in Run-Up to
Meeting on
Syria, Brazil
Says Could
Agree to
Statement
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 1 --
With deaths in
Syria
mounting, on
July 31
outgoing UN
Security
Council
president
Germany asked
its successor
for August,
India, to
convene an
emergency for
August 1 on
Syria. At 9 am
on Monday, a
spokesman of
the German
Mission to the
UN told the
press that the
request was
granted, and
the meeting
would be at 5
pm.
In
front of the
Security
Council on
Monday
morning, Inner
City Press
asked
Brazilian
Permanent
Representative
Maria Viotti
what Brazil
expected from
the 5 pm
meeting. After
meeting with
the Indian
presidency she
said Brazil
could agree to
a Press
Statement or
Presidential
Statement on
Syria, but not
a resolution.
She told the
Press, "We
would
be able to go
along with a
press
statement,
even with a
PRST, I
think that we
would support
that... Not a
resolution,
but a PRST or
a
press
statement."
Inner
City Press has
exclusively
reported that
Brazil, India
and South
Africa say
their deputy
ministers will
travel to
Damascus soon
-- "in the
coming days,"
Viotti said
Monday -- to
"engage" with
the Assad
resolution.
Western
members of the
Security
Council have
been
dismissive of
this trip.
When
France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
exited the
Security
Council after
meeting with
the Indian
presidency,
Inner City
Press asked
him if France
had joined in
Germany's
request for
the meeting --
"yes" was the
answer -- and
told him what
Viotti had
said.
"That's
news to me,"
he said. So
news it is.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Given
the position
Lebanon is in,
it remains
more than
possible that
it would block
any press or
presidential
statement of
the Council,
which requires
unanimity. Or,
Lebanon could
"disassociate"
itself. We'll
see.
Update
of 11:24 am --
the
Portuguese,
when the
emerged, said
that for a
Presidential
or Press
Statement,
Lebanon could
be a problem.
But they
pointed to a
precedent from
the 1956 Suez
crisis, a
statement can
be adopted
without all
members
present. Watch
this site.
* * *
India,
Brazil
&
S.
Africa
Move Toward
Joint
Communique on
Syria,
European
Members
Grumble at UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
27
--
As the
crackdown has
intensified in
Syria, the
so-called IBSA
countries --
India, Brazil
and South
Africa -- have
been under
increasing
pressure to
“do something
about Assad.”
France's
UN
Ambassador
Gerard
Araud,
for example,
wrote an
opinion piece
in the
Brazilian
press urging
Brazil to
support the
long pending
draft Security
Council
resolution on
Syria
circulated by
the European
members of the
Council.
UN
sources
have for some
time been
telling Inner
City Press
that IBSA has
been moving
toward taking
action.
Now
on July 26
several
European
members
complained to
Inner City
Press that the
action the
IBSA countries
are moving
toward is not
through the
Council but
rather a
communication,
or demarche,
directly to
Syria.
This
new
development
is
not
unexpected. As
the Council's
two
resolutions on
Libya have
been cited
after the fact
as authorizing
not only
airstrikes but
even the
parachuting of
weapons into
the Nafusa
mountains by
France,
opposition to
a Syria
Council
resolution has
grown.
But
India,
Brazil and
South Africa,
each for its
own reasons,
wants to take
some action on
Syria.
Internally,
each of the
three
government
faces
pressures from
some groups to
do more about
human rights
in Syria, and
from others
not to allow
“another
Libya.”
As
to
Brazil, on a
recent Council
on Foreign
Relations
conference
call Inner
City Press
asked, “what
do you make of
Brazil's
position on
Syria being
portrayed
as...
obstructionist?”
Former
US
Ambassador
to
Brazil
Donna Hrinak
responded that
the
“Brazilian
congress
certainly is
playing more
of a role.
Itamaraty at
one time had,
you know,
virtual
monopoly on
foreign policy
making. Civil
society is a
lot more
vibrant in
Brazil in also
speaking out
on foreign
policy. You
could do quite
well by
looking at
what players
are active in
U.S. foreign
policy and
seeing those
same groups
reflected in
Brazil.”
How
would
an op-ed by a
French
diplomat
seeking to
impact US
foreign policy
play out?
Brazil's
PR Viotti,
India's (3d
from left),
Araud behind
Susan Rice in
shades, IBSA
letter not
shown
CFR's Latin
America
director Julia
Sweig also
replied:
“with
respect to
Syria, there
was a great
deal of
conflict with
France over
that, but
there were a
couple of
resolutions, I
believe, that
passed in the
Brazilian
congress,
which is
becoming more
and more
active in
weighing in on
foreign
policy,
condemning
1973, that
resolution [on
Libya], and
also a great
deal of
resistance on
the Syria
front that I
believe
Itamaraty is
increasingly
sensitive to,
as our
foreign-policy
operatives are
themselves
when they
conduct
foreign
policy. So in
foreign
policy,
domestic
politics and
voices will
impinge.”
Things
are
not
so
different
in India and
South Africa.
So for the
three to act
together is
not
unexpected,
despite the
grumbling from
European
members of the
Security
Council. Watch
this site.
, 
in