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At UN, South Ossetia Shoot Out Triggers Late-Night
Council Meeting, Kosovo Echoes
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 7 -- Russia convened a
late-night Security Council session Thursday about the escalating
conflict
between Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia.
At 8:30 p.m., the Russian Mission to the UN
emailed the Press to come in at 11 p.m.. Diplomats of the Belgian
presidency of
the Council for August confirmed the meeting would take place.
On August
6, Inner City Press had asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if he
was
asking that South Ossetia be addressed by the Security Council in
August. No,
he said, he had no instructions to that effect, and it is Georgia's
other
breakaway region, Abkhazia, that is on the Council's agenda, not South
Ossetia.
Video here,
from Minute 10:04. He did note that "Ambassador at Large"
Yuri Popov was headed to the region. But Georgia and South Ossetia
could not
agree on the format of any meeting between them -- South Ossetia wants
Russian
and North Ossetia involvement, Georgia does not -- and a temporary
ceasefire was
nearly immediately broken.
Vitaly Churkin with Amb. Wang and Khalilzad:
one's pro-Georgia, the other anti-breakaway
While few
make the connection, Inner City Press posits that the unilateral
declaration of
independence by Kosovo earlier this year, recognized by the United
States and
most of the European Union, has played a role in the heating up of
other
separatist conflicts, including those in Georgia. Whether jealous or
emboldened, other separatists asked, "Why not us?"
And the stakes rose for Georgia to try to
reclaim both breakaway zones.
When
Inner
City Press asked Georgia's Ambassador to the UN Irakli Alasania for his
country's position on Kosovo independence, his answer was only that the
situations are not at all comparable. But why not?
The UN
Security Council sprung back to life at it neared midnight
Thursday. This will be updated.
Update of 10:31 p.m. -- At the
stakeout there is a single TV crew, four reporters and some early
arriving Russian diplomats. There is talk of an 8-page letter from
Georgia, and that Russia, surprisingly, has not circulated any drafts
in the lead-up to the 11 p.m. meeting...
Update of 10:48 p.m. -- As Amb.
Churkin went in to the Council, Inner City Press asked, "Is there a
text?" "Yes," he answered. But so far the only document emerging at the
stakeout is a speech by Saakashvili, which the Georgian mission has
submitted as an official documents of the Security Council. "I myself
do not understand why the separatists became so aggressive at exactly
this time," it begins...
Update of 11:07 p.m. -- still
milling around. Council diplomat tells us that the lack of UN
technicians is delaying the start of the Council's consultations. There
still being no UN TV camera here, they will let the journalists into
the balcony to watch the open meeting. We'll see.
11:09 p.m. -- Representing the
Secretariat, Vijay Nambiar arrives, with umbrella still wet from the
rain outside. And finally a UN TV official arrives. The
Spokesperson's Office is still not manned, or woman-ed...
Update of 11:25 p.m. -- Finally a
three-sentence Russian draft press statement has emerged, to "express
concern at the escalation of violations in the zone of the Georgian -
South Ossetian conflict." The intial reviews were positive: "now who
could object to that?"
Update of 11:29 p.m. -- Bets are
being taken which part of the three sentences will be objected to. One
intrepid YouTuber says that "Georgian - South Ossetian"
implied two separate sovereignties. Inner City Press' bet? The call "to
renounce the use of force," something that Georgia has been resisting
with regard to both of its breakaway regions. Call it the Trojan horse
phrase...
Update of 11:36 p.m. -- amid wire
reports that Georgia is bombing South Ossetia, at the stakeout UN
TV is finally setting up its cameras. One cynical journalist snarked,
blame the deaths in the last half an hour on them...
Update of 12:05 A.m., Friday --
as midnight passes, the three sentences are still being dissected in
the Council's consultation room. From the Far East this complaint: is
this any way to cut into 8-8-08 and the Olympics?
Update of 12:13 a.m. -- on the
three little sentences, the Council is taking a break. And now we learn
what the logjam is. The two Russian-draft references to calling "on the
parties to the conflict," the U.S. and UK, on behalf of Georgia, want
to change to "ALL the parties to the conflict" -- meaning Russia. Looks
like a long night...
Update of 12:33 a.m. -- as
Council reconvenes, Secretariat's Vijay Nambiar, with umbrella, heads
out into the night. Inner City Press jokingly asks, "Not staying for
the long haul?" Mr. Nambiar smiled. "No, we've done everything we have
to do." But the closed door consultations continue.
Update of 12:51 a.m. -- And now
the real problem, the Trojan horse (see above) has been identified. The
U.S. and UK refuse to include a call "to renounce the use of force,"
which Georgia has been resisting. And so there will be no Council
outcome. They move into the Chamber. And so it goes at the UN.
Update of 12:58 a.m. -- inside
the Chamber, delay for lack of translators. UK's Karen Pierce jokes to
Russia's Churkin, "You call more emergency meetings that we do," then
refers to "vodka, gin and wine." The waiting continues, the lack of
outcome already assured. The media question now is, will Georgia still
hold its 11 a.m. press conference?
Update of 1:06 a.m. --
Secretariat staff are saying, "Can we go to another room?" The sound
system in the Security Council is squeeling with feedback.
Update of 1:14 a.m. -- Somehow
the audio system is fixed, and finally the meeting begins. Georgia is
invited to the table. UN Peacekeeping's Edmund Mulet is in the house.
Update of 1:17 a.m. -- Churkin
begins, denouncing "treacherous" actions by Georgia, and says, we told
you so. Houses are in flames, he says. At 3 a.m. local time, he says,
Georgia attacked with tanks and infantry. "The Security Council
must now play its role," he says, and call for a rejection of the use
of force. Fat chance...
Update of 1:23 a.m. -- Georgia's
Irakli Alasania begins, emphasizing South Ossetian separatists started
shelling Georgia villages, and evacuated 400 children. Multiple
references to television interviews, Russian "media propaganda,"
Georgian restraint.
Update of 1:28 a.m. -- as
Georgia's Alasania continues, Russia's Churkin gets handed a note by
his side. Breaking news?
Update of 1:30 a.m. -- Alasania
is naming Russians who are active in South Ossetia, including one who
served with the FSB in Beslan, North Ossetia, and others from the
"Chechen and Bosnian wars." He says these were given "impunity" by the
Russians, for "atrocities committed."
Update of 1:35 a.m. -- Alasania
brags of two million euros that Georgia has offered, and amnesty for
"separatist rebels." This is over ten minutes. There is grumbling,
there is yawning. And in South Ossetia, there is shelling. Alasania
ends, UK's Karen Pierce begins.
Update of 1:39 a.m. -- UK's
Pierce expresses concern about the movement of troops not from Georgia
or South Ossetia toward the region (that is, Russians). France's
Jean-Pierre Lacroix reminds everyone that his country heads the EU. The
U.S. representative, not previously seen in the Council, says "my
government has been working with Russia." What? She blames the South
Ossetia, and calls for respect for Georgia's territorial integrity.
Here comes China, referring to the Olympic truce. Italy refers to it as
well, and to the OSCE.
Update of 1:46 a.m. -- Russia has
its first explicit supporter, Vietnam, China being distracted with the
Olympics. Vietnam praises Russia, Croatia begins, South Africa whispers
to staff.
Update of 1:50 a.m. -- apparently
the South African whisper, extended to Panama and Libya, was to
stand-down on the statements. Because now, after Indonesia, Belgium is
speaking but briefing, handing the conch back to Russia.
Update of 1:52 a.m. -- Churkin
points out contradictions, turns to the consultations, the "incapacity
of the Security Council" and the "lack of political will" by Council
members. Churkin agrees that the U.S. and Russia were having
discussions, but criticizes the U.S. representative's verbal criticism
of South Ossetia at tonight's meeting. New Cold War, anyone?
Update of 1:57 a.m. - Georgia's
closing statement refers to Churkin by name, calls on Russia to "come
to negotiation table." And at 1:58 a.m., it's a wrap -- except for the
stakeouts...
Click here for that and Inner City
Press' round-up.
Watch this site.
And
this --
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