In
UN SC, Syria
Draft Under
Silence to 9
am Thursday,
Kofi
Briefs at 10
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 4 -- On
the eve of
Kofi Annan's
briefing of
the UN
General
Assembly,
Security
Council
diplomats met
past 6 pm on
Wednesday
negotiating a
Presidential
Statement
about Annan's
mission
to Syria.
The
idea, several
Council
sources told
Inner City
Press, was to
"agree on a
PRST
before Annan's
10 am
briefing." The
negotiation
went slowly,
from 3:30 pm
-- after an
hour, a source
emerged to say
they were
"only on
paragraph
two." Two
became four.
A
Western
diplomat
told Inner
City Press, it
will look
terrible if
the Council
can't
agree on
something this
simple before
Kofi briefs
the Council. A
non-Western
diplomat said
the statement
had to be
balanced, and
use
"carrots" as
well as
sticks.
An
Arab diplomat
opined that
"Russia will
be harder this
time."
But
just after six
the meeting
broken.
Multiple
sources told
Inner City
Press that the
amended draft
is under
"silence
procedure"
until 9 am on
Thursday, with
an eye toward
reading it out
in the chamber
at 9:45 -
unless a
member
objects. PRST
must be
unanimous.
One
Western
diplomat
quipped, as he
left, sure
9:45, Russia
has guaranteed
it
won't object.
There are, of
course, no
guarantees.
Meanwhile
the UN
itself remains
absurdly
secretive.
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to merely
confirm that
Robert Mood of
Norway is the
head of the
assessment
team being
sent
to Damascus.
Nesirky
refused to
confirm.
The
two deputies,
Nassar
El-Kidwa and
Jean-Marie
Guehenno, are
said by
sources to be
at
the Assistant
Secretary
General level.
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky
if Ban's
financial
disclosure,
including
public
financial
disclosure,
regime applies
to them.
Nesirky
referred
to prior back
and forth --
mostly back --
about the
composition of
Annan's team,
and said he
wouldn't
answer. Inner
City Press
noted
that while
Annan
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi
disclosed at
least some
names
-- Lamine
Sisse, for
example, and
Nicolas Michel
as a
consultant --
he hadn't
disclosed
Martin
Griffiths, and
in any event
the financial
disclosure
question was
for the UN
Secretariat,
Ban in
particular
since he made
so much of
this
disclosure
regime.
"Don't
get me
wrong you can
ask of
course,"
Nesirky said.
"And if we
have
something I'll
let you know."
But six hours
later nothing
had
been said. So
much for
disclosure.
Footnote:
at the same
time as the
Syria
consultation,
another
meeting took
place in the
Council's
suite, on one
of the US
Mission's
thematic
debates this
month, called
"Illicit
Flows." An
exiting
diplomat
quipped to
Inner City
Press, "Sounds
like a
disease."
Indeed.
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