On
Syria,
Ban Can't Vet
Those Given UN
Contracts by
Annan, He's
Lost Control
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 29 --
Skeptics in
the UN
Security
Council and
elsewhere have
begun to
question
whether Syria's
Assad
government
agreed to the
Six Point Plan
of UN - Arab
League Joint
Special Envoy
Kofi Annan
because it
dropped the
"political
transition"
previously
demanded by
the Arab
League and
others,
including it
seemed
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
Inner
City Press
on Thursday
asked Ban's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey if Ban
still wants to
see a
"political
transition" in
Syria as he
had previously
said.
Del
Buey answered
that
Ban"agrees
with the
six-point plan.
Any
process that
takes place in
Syria must be
a Syrian-led
process."
Sources
tell Inner
City Press
that Ban has
"lost control"
of the
mediation
process. After
the General
Assembly
passed a
resolution
calling for
a joint envoy,
Martti
Ahtisaari and
Kofi Annan
were under
final
consideration.
It was
expected that
Annan would
say no, he
wouldn't
want to work
under his
successor Ban
Ki-moon. But
Annan said yes
and
the rest is
history: he is
not under Ban.
To surprise
and some
unhappiness in
the UN, Ban
has "lost
control."
Previously,
Inner
City Press
asked if Ban
would be given
a copy of
Assad's
response
before Kofi
responded to
and commented
on it. There
was no clear
"yes."
Now Ban has
had to echo or
even qualify
Annan's
response. He
has lost
whatever
control he
had. Inner
City Press
understands
from multiple
sources that
Annan is
proposing
various
formats or
modalities of
monitors to
the Assad
government,
apparently
without the
concurrence or
even prior
knowledge of
Ban and the
UN.
Ban
apparently
does not even
have a role in
reviewing who
is given six
month UN
contracts by
Annan,
including most
recently Martin
Griffiths who
would not pass
muster of any
UN recruitment,
having resigned
from his
last job atop
the Center for
Humanitarian
Dialogue amid
an
embezzlement
scandal. (Click
here for
Inner City
Press' exclusive
report
yesterday.)
From
Thursday's
UN
noon briefing
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: On
Syria, these
are two
connected
questions, I
will start
with small. I
have heard
that Kofi
Annan is
basically in
charge of
the hiring of
the team, he
has hired a
man named
Martin
Griffiths
about whom
there is some
controversy of
his past job.
I have been
told that he
couldn’t be
hired by the
UN given how
he left his
past
job, but he
has been
hired, he is
on a UN
contract, I am
told, for
six months
regardless of
what happens
with Mr.
Annan’s work.
So, I
wanted to
know, what is
the UN’s role
in vetting and
screening
before people
are given UN
contracts to
work with the
Joint Special
Envoy’s team?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey: I’ll
have to check
on that for
you, I don’t
have the
details with
me.
Five
hours later,
even after the
UN put this
transcript
online, no
information
had been
provided.
Inner
City
Press: Okay.
And the other
one is kind of
bigger. Some
are
saying that
the Kofi
Annan’s
six-point plan
has noticeably
dropped
this idea of
political
transition,
which was in
the Arab
League plan.
The question
is: does the
Secretary-General,
is he looking
for
political
transition in
Syria, or is
the Kofi Annan
six-point
plan,
which doesn’t
include
political
transition and
could
conceivably
result very
much in Mr.
Assad
remaining in
power with a
ceasefire and
the other
things in the
plan, which
side is he on?
Does he think
there should
be a
transition or
not?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, the
Secretary-General
agrees with
the
six-point
plan. Any
process that
takes place in
Syria must be
a
Syrian-led
process. He
has always
called on the
Government of
Syria
to listen to
its people;
and the hope
is that they
will be able
to
negotiate a
way forward
towards a
democratic
future where
human
rights of all
are respected
and where
different
communities
can
cohabitate in
peace.
Inner
City
Press: Just to
put a point on
it, in his
view, Mr.
Assad could
remain in
power despite
the previous
statement that
he lost his
humanity and
various
statements
that Ban
Ki-moon has
made?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, that’s
not a decision
for the
Secretary-General
to make. That
is a decision
for the Syrian
people
to make, and
he hopes that
a negotiating
process will
take place and
that the
Syrian people
will be able
to make their
views known,
and
elect a
Government of
their choice.
This
is different
from what Ban
use to say.
But as people
close to Ban
tell Inner
City
Press, Ban has
lost control.
Watch this
site.
, 
