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At UN, South Africa Wants to Hear
from Tony Blair, Saharan Christopher
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, September 3 -- In
Gaza, the sister in law of the UN's Envoy to the Quartet, Tony Blair,
is trapped
by Israel's blockade. In the UN Security Council, the question has
again
arisen, raised by South Africa: who does Tony Blair represent? South
African
Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told Inner City Press that his request that
Blair
provide a briefing to the Council had run into opposition. For Blair to
appear,
the opponents say, the other three members of the Quarter will have to
agree.
Both the U.S. and Russia are said to be opposed. The
views of JPMorgan
Chase, which pays Blair
$1 million a year, are not known at this time.
As the Council met Wednesday morning over breakfast
about its program
for the month, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff
confirmed
that the Blair issue's been raised, "by South Africa," he said. He
said it was not yet clear if Blair will brief the Council.
Another participant in the morning's closed
door debate told Inner City Press that it had been "surreal."
Blair is described as the UN representative on the
Quarter -- but which UN?
Blair ready to brief -- but not the Security
Council, maybe JPMorgan
The
General Assembly? Only Ban
Ki-moon? As one non-Permanent Council diplomat told Inner City Press,
Ban
cannot operate on his own without a mandate. Ban unilaterally imposed a
form of
sanctions on Hamas without any direction from the Council, the diplomat
continued. Perhaps the issue of Blair's
many side
employments, including with JPMorgan Chase, will arise. Tellingly,
when Inner City Press has asked Ban's Spokesperson what safeguards are
in place
given Blair's multiple employers, the answer has been "Ask Tony
Blair." But it is a UN question, isn't it?
The secondary issue in Wednesday's Council
consolations was when Javier
Solana should provide his briefing. At the margins, questions arose
about who
will replace Peter Van Walsum as the UN's mediator on Western Sahara.
Three
sources tell Inner City Press that the frontrunner is none other than
Warren
Christopher. We'll see.
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia),
this, on
Russia-Georgia,
and
this --
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