Syria
Calls Doha
Process
Partial,
Feltman
Monitors w/o
Details,
France on
Lebanon
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 6 --
After UN
political
chief Jeffrey
Feltman
briefed the
Security
Council on
Syria, he came
to take press
questions at a
televised
stakeout, the
first time
since he's had
the
job.
Feltman
primarily
conveyed the
work and views
of Joint
Special
Representative
Lakhdar
Brahimi,
mentioning
that his
deputy Nassar
Al-Kidwa is
"monitoring"
the Syrian
opposition
process in
Doha.
Inner
City Press
asked Feltman
what he makes
of the
criticism that
the
United States,
whose State
Department
Feltman until
this year
served,
is dominating
or "picking a
Syria
opposition to
supersede the
failed Syrian
National
Council."
Feltman
replied
rather
implausibly,
or
diplomatically,
that he is
"not sure the
role that
governments
are playing"
in Doha. He
went on to
note that any
transition
should be
Syrian led,
and for that,
the opposition
must
come together,
"reflective of
what's
actually
happening on
the ground." Video
here, from
Minute 11:28.
Moments
later
Inner City
Press asked
Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari for
his view of
the Doha
process. He
shook his head
and called it
"partial" and
"not
implementing
the Geneva
document,"
which he said
required the
opposition to
acknowledge
the need to
negotiate with
the current
government.
After
popping into
the Security
Council suite
of rooms,
Ja'afari
re-emerged
and told Inner
City Press
that what is
important is
to pressure
countries
which arm and
support the
armed groups,
which he said
are
affiliated
with Al Qaeda.
He mentioned
the Al Nusra
Front and
"booby
[trapped]
cars," saying
that the
Security
Council didn't
react
to or condemn
such bombings.
You
can't be
against
terrorism in
Mali and
Afghanistan
and support it
elsewhere,
Ja'afari says.
But it seems
that some can.
A
subsequent
read-out to
Inner City
Press had the
US, in closed
door
consultations,
alluding to
pushing for
"further
measures"
-- that is,
sanctions --
after Brahimi
briefs the
Security
Council
later this
month; the UK
saying it must
be under
Chapter Seven
of the
UN Charter,
and France
insisting that
Syria be
condemned for
moves on
Lebanon, which
President
Francois
Hollande just
visited. And
so it
goes.
Inner
City Press
also asked
Feltman about
the Golan. Video
here, from
Minute 7:10.
He described
it as "Syrian
on Syrian"
fighting, but
could
spread the
conflict into
"areas which
had been
immune from
fighting." On
this he was
quite
detailed; for
what it was,
it was a good
first
stakeout.
Watch
this site.
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