At
UN
on Syria,
Europeans Go
Off Camera,
Ja'afari
Chides TV,
Says Wait
Til March
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 10 --
After the UN
Security
Council heard
about
Syria behind
closed doors
on Tuesday, a
series of
European
Permanent
Representatives
came out and
spoke to the
press, off
camera but on
the record.
UK
Ambassador
Mark
Lyall Grant
said that
Russia, which
preemptively
put out a
draft
resolution in
December when
it was
president of
the Council,
has been
asked to
circulate a
new draft,
updated with
the many
suggestions
made.
He said the
Council should
take action
before January
19, when
another Arab
League
statement is
expected, or
immediately
after that.
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
emerged and
told the press
that action
before January
19 is
"unlikely." He
called the
Arab League
the "game"
in town, and
said that all
Council
members agreed
on that.
German
Ambassador
Peter Wittig
said some have
proposed that
the Secretary
General of
the Arab
League come
and brief or
engage with
the Security
Council.
After
these off
camera
semi-engagements,
US Ambassador
Susan Rice and
then Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari took
to the
stakeout, in
(strange)
context the
main event.
Ja'afari
chided two
television
networks for
"jumping to
conclusion"
that the
Arab League
observers were
attacked by
"supporters of
the
government."
He asked, "How
do you know
they were
supporters of
the
government?
These things
can be
prefabricated."
Ja'afari
went on
to describe
letters he has
written to the
Secretary
General, Ban
Ki-moon,
complaining
that some of
this
information
was never
"transpired to
the Security
Council."
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
& Assad:
information
not
transmitted?
While
Churkin has
said wait
until (at
least) January
19, Ja'afari
said that
Bashar al
Assad was
saying wait
until March,
which Ja'afari
called
"tomorrow."
He said that
Egypt still
has an
emergency law;
he described
reforms
and said that
countries
which allow on
their
territory
armed
opponents of
the Assad
government, to
talk about
their military
plans, are
violating the
UN Charter.
And then he
was gone.
, 
