UNITED
NATIONS, June
7 -- After at
least three
kidnappings of
UN
peacekeepers
in the Golan,
and then an
attack that
led Austria to
decide to pull
its troops out
of the
mission, the
question of
who is
ultimately
behind the
attacks
remains murky.
On
the afternoon
of June 7
Inner City
Press asked UK
Ambassador
Mark
Lyall Grant,
president of
the Security
Council for
June, if there
was
any discussion
of involvement
from any
outside state
in the threats
to
peacekeepers.
As
in the morning,
he said there
had been no
such
discussion.
In
the General
Assembly,
Syrian
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari read
a cell
phone number
from an e-mail
he
said showed
involvement
from Qatar in
the
kidnappings of
peacekeepers.
He has said he
provided
information
to UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous;
Syria's
representative
at the
UN Human
Rights Council
in Geneva on
June 4 said
that Ladsous
was
investigating
the Qatar
claim.
But
at the UN in
New York, they
didn't want to
answer. On
June 4, Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky if
Ladsous was,
in fact,
looking into
it. Nesirky
said he
would ask the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
Three
days later on
June 7, having
gotten no
response,
Inner City
Press
repeated the
question.
Nesirky said
again that he
would check
with
DPKO, whose
spokesman was
in the
briefing room,
as Inner City
Press
reported. It
was later
indicated that
an answer
would come.
And now
it has:
Subject:
Your
question on
Qatar
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Fri, Jun
7, 2013 at
5:16 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
question on
Qatar earlier
today, below
is the
response from
DSS
and DPKO:
The
United Nations
has no
evidence of
any
involvement by
Member States
or
state actors
in the
abduction or
detention of
UN personnel
in Syria.
To our
knowledge, the
peacekeepers
were detained
by individual
groups
operating in
Syria.
One
might find it
strange that
without
answering the
question asked
on
June 4 -- was
Ladsous' DPKO
looking into
what Syria
provided it on
May 22 and
conducting an
inquiry as
Syria
requested, and
on June 4 in
Geneva said
was being done
-- the UN now
simply says it
has no
evidence.
The
answer also
implies that
the UN sees or
accepts a
distinction
between
"individual
groups
operating in
Syria" and
outside
states:
as if outside
states didn't
arm and fund
"individual
groups"
in Syria.
But
it may also be
worth looking
more closely
at what is
being
answered:
the UN says it
has no
evidence that
Qatar as a
"member state
or
state actor"
is involved.
What
Ja'afari
alleged in the
General
Assembly was
that the
Syrian
opposition
figure to whom
Qatar "gave"
Syria's
embassy in
Doha was
involved in
the
kidnapping. He
is not a
"state actor,"
but Qatar's
support of him
puts his
alleged
role in a
different
light.
If
one
knew more
about Ladsous,
evidence of
objectivity
for example,
perhaps there
would not be
so many
questions. But
when Ladsous
confined
news of the
third
kidnapping to
a
"conversation"
with friendly
reporters,
it raises
questions.
So
the question
to be answered
is: was the
Syrian
opposition
figure to
whom Qatar
"gave" Syria's
embassy in
Doha involved
in any
of the
kidnappings?
Did any e-mail
received by UN
officials in
May
reflect this?
Has the UN
done anything
to look into
or act on this
since? To be
continued.
Footnote:
at
the stakeout
after Council
consultations
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
said
his country is
offering to
replace the
Austrian
observers, but
is checking to
see if this
would require
a Security
Council
resolution
as well as an
amended agreed
by Israel and
Syria. A
representative
of
Syria told
Inner City
Press, not
surprisingly,
they would
agree.
Watch this
site.
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