After
Low
Key Syria
Meeting, UN SC
To Dispute
Kofi Annan
Briefing
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 13 --
After the UN
Security
Council was
briefed on
Syria by top
humanitarian
Valerie Amos,
the Permanent
Representatives
of
two of the
Council's five
permanent
members
emerged with
different
emphases.
China's
Li Baodong
told Inner
City Press
that Amos had
urged
countries to
"urge
their
influence"
with Syria.
Another
member's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
said there was
concern that
"Assad hasn't
signed
the
humanitarian
agreement, but
you heard
Lavrov say not
to
politicize
humanitarian
issues."
France's
Gerard
Araud emerged
and told the
press "there
is nothing new
on Syria,
no meeting,
nothing."
Walking next
to him, US
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo
nodded, which
Araud called a
confirmation.
But
a
non-Permanent
member's
representative
told Inner
City Press
that "the
President" --
this month,
the UK's Mark
Lyall Grant --
had put
on the agenda
the question
of Kofi Annan
briefing the
Security
Council.
Lavrov had
said, it was
noted, that
Annan would
brief the
Secretary
General who
would in turn
brief the
member states.
His post
is, after all,
a response to
a resolution
of the General
Assembly and
not the
Security
Council.
But
some on the
Council would
like Annan to
brief them
directly.
Another
Council
member
confirmed to
Inner City
Press at 11:50
am that this
was on the
agenda but had
not yet been
gotten to. But
Araud, and
then US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
had already
left. We'll
see.
Footnote:
Inner
City Press has
three times
asked who
traveled with
Annan, who's
getting paid
and who they
met with. On
March 12 Inner
City Press
asked Ban "is
it possible to
get a list of
the people
that
accompanied
Kofi Annan on
his mission to
Syria? Also,
there was a
reference to
him meeting
businessmen
and
businesswomen,
is there a
way to get who
went and who
they met
with?"
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said, "I can
certainly try,
Matthew." But
23 hours
later, no
information at
all had been
provided.
, 
