On
Syria,
Russia
Resolution
Rules, France
Jives, US
Spins, 300 to
Go
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UN
System,
April 20 --
How far is
Washington
from New York,
or noon from
5 pm? At the
US State
Department's
noon or 1 pm
briefing,
Inner City
Press
asked
spokesperson
Victoria
Nuland about a
Syria
resolution
introduced at
the UN in New
York:
Inner
City
Press: I’ve
heard that
Russia has
actually now
introduced a
resolution for
the 300
[observers],
sort of jumped
the gun or
beaten
you to it, and
that France is
saying it’s
going to
introduce one
for 500. And I
just wondered,
can you
confirm the
Russian draft
has
been
circulated?
And between
the two, which
one would the
U.S.
prefer?
MS.
NULAND:
I understood
from my
colleagues in
New York, at
U.S. Mission
to the United
Nations, that
they were all
now working
off a single
draft, but I’m
going to send
you up to them
for the work
that’s
ongoing up
there.
Then
at 5 pm on
Friday a
consultation
began, with an
eye to voting
Saturday at 11
am,
just like last
week. And
ultimately a
single
resolution did
go into
blue, which
Inner City
Press is
putting online
with much
appreciated
help as with
the
transcripts,
in JPG format
in three
pages, here
and here
and here.
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
explained to
the press:
"This
is
a three month
mandate and I
think the
process that
already
started. So
the idea is
that now the
Secretariat
and the
mission and
the Syrian
government and
the opposition
must know that
the SC will
be authorizing
the
full-fledged
mandate so we
hope it’s
going to
send a strong
and good
political
signal and we
hope the
people who
have been
courageous
enough to go
there with the
advanced party
will
know that they
are not in
limbo. That
they are more
people will
come
and the
Secretariat
and the
Security
Council is
taking this
exercise
very
seriously...
It’s going to
be up to 300
unarmed
military
observers and
an appropriate
civilian
element."
To
this last, a
respected
human rights
advocate
tweeted back
that the
"Russian
text also
calls for
'limited'
civilian -
e.g. rights,
gender -
monitoring,
and Syria,
Russia would
have to
approve their
mandate."
Readers can
review the
resolution and
come to their
own
conclusions.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
fresh off
blocking in
Western Sahara
human rights
monitoring and
freedom of
movement,
cravenly on
Syria said
"the
Russian
text was a
good text. Our
goal is
limited, our
goal is to
send an
observers
mission to
Syria, so in a
sense the
Russian text
was a very
good text, it
was a very
good basis, so
the amendments
that we have
brought to the
text are, in a
sense, really,
I think the
text will have
changed, but
not
dramatically
because again
it was a
good basis and
we want only
to send 300
people there,
so really...
we
have to take
into account
the danger for
the observers,
so that's the
reason why we
are precizing
[sic,
probably from
French,
necessary]
that the
Secretary-General
will have to
assess the
situation on
the ground,
you know,
simply to say
'well
actually, I
can send them'
or 'Actually,
I have to
withdraw them'
or 'Actually,
I
can send them
only on some
spots.'"
Je ne
comprend pas.
In order to
understand,
Inner City
Press also
asked US State
Department
spokesperson
Nuland:
Inner
City
Press: The
Moroccan
colonel who’s
leading the UN
team there
now has been
quoted that
he’s not going
to take his
team out on
Fridays. He
doesn’t want
to be used
politically.
There’s a
quote
to that
effect. And
I’m just
wondering,
since it seems
that one of
the purposes
of the
observer
mission is to
allow people
to protest,
and that’s a
big day they
want to
protest, what
would the U.S.
think of that?
And
also,
I wanted to
ask you one
other question
on this idea
of freedom
of movement.
Some people
are saying
that for the
U.S. to be so
focused on
this absolute
freedom of
movement in
Syria while
it’s
about to vote
for a
resolution on
Western
Sahara, which
basically
acknowledges
that the
Moroccan
Government has
been limiting
and
surveilling
the
peacekeepers
in Western
Sahara, is
somehow
inconsistent.
And I wonder
if you have an
explanation of
the
different
approaches.
MS.
NULAND:
Well, first of
all, I haven’t
seen the
comments of
the
Moroccan lead.
As I said, all
of the
modalities for
these
peacekeepers
are being
reviewed based
on the
experience of
the
initial group,
and they have
to be worked
out through a
new Security
Council
resolution,
and obviously,
we have to see
how it goes on
the
ground.
With
regard
to Morocco
versus Syria,
the situation
is different,
the
history is
different. In
the case of
Syria, what we
have seen all
over the
country is an
effort at
peaceful
protest that
has been met
with regime
violence. And
so we need to
ensure that we
are not just
covering –
able to cover
some parts of
the country or
some affected
populations;
that if this
is going to be
a true
monitoring
mission,
the mission is
going to have
the ability to
make its own
decisions
about where it
can – where it
needs to
monitor, where
it – and
how it needs
to be able to
move around
the country.
We'll
see. Watch
this site.
, 
