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At UN, Cyprus Wording Games And Closed Meeting Problems, Quiet Darfur Meeting Set for June 17

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, June 13 -- As the UN Security Council formally met on the Multi-National Force in Iraq, on the sidelines the talk was of Cyprus, specifically the pending resolution to extend the UNFICYP mission between June 15. The draft was called finalized for voting, or put into blue, on June 11. But on June 13, the scuttlebutt was that the United States, listed as a sponsor of the draft, suddenly is not satisfied with two references "welcoming... the Joint Statement of 23 May 2008." That in turn refers to "partnership" and "constituent states."

   Now, it's said, the U.S. wants to get those phrases directly into the Security Council resolution, raising concerns for the Greeks and Greek Cypriots. They wonder if why there's last minute questioning of a finalized blue text; they wonder if the Turkish side has not won the ear of the State Department on this issue. They wonder. So does Inner City Press -- so a question was put to a well-placed diplomat on his way into the Council, who acknowledged that negotiations had continued even after the text had been put into blue -- "that only signifies an intent to vote in 24 hours, not an end to discussions," he argued. The explanation, he said, would be left to U.S. Ambassador Khalilzad, after the vote. Watch this site.

Update of 2 p.m. -- After the vote, on the text that had previously been put in blue, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad read out a U.S. statement using the magic words "bizonal, bicommunal and constituent states."Inner City Press asked Cyprus' Ambassador if he felt the American read-out supported the positions of the Turkish side. Khalilzad "had to accommodate them," was the response. But he insisted that the language does not mean, and his side will not accept, two sovereign states in a loose federation. And so it goes.

Andreas Mavroyiannis, Larry D. Johnson and Surya Sinha, word games not shown

Footnotes: walking repeatedly past the stakeout on Friday morning was Cyprus' Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis. The previous evening, he made a point of telling Inner City Press that although he ordered the last meeting of the committee on relations with the host country closed to the press, he is always available to discuss what happens in the meetings. There's only one problem - he'll be leaving in July. So that is not the solution. While he said that even the UN's Department of Public Information should not be in the meetings, Inner City Press said all media should be allowed, except for whatever portions of a meeting may truly need to be held in confidence.

  Also confirmed Friday morning at the Council stakeout is a so far ill-publicized Council meeting on June 17 about Darfur, convened by the U.S. Mission and featuring Richard Williamson and and four non-governmental organizations. At least some of the NGOs hope for a so-called partnering conference, in which countries such as South Korea would offer assistance to the African contingents heading to Darfur, for example from Ethiopia. We'll see.

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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