|
On
Libya,
UN “Volunteer” Envoy Khatib Dodges Arms Drops, Waits
for Tripoli
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 11 -- After briefing the UN Security Council on Libya
for more than two hours, Ban Ki-moon's envoy Abdul Elah Al-Khatib
emerged to
take questions from the press. After he read three points from note
cards, Inner City Press asked him about France's
admitted arm drop of
weapons into the Nafusa Mountains, and if he is still a Jordan
senator while functioning as the UN's envoy.
Al
Khatib to his credit took
this question first, saying “since it has been troubling you,” he
wanted to clarify that he is a “volunteer,” he is not a UN staff
member but it still a “proud” Senator of Jordan.
On
weapons drops,
he called these rumors. Inner City Press followed up that France has
acknowledged dropping weapons into Libya. This is up to the Security
Council, he said, he is looking for a political solution.
Earlier,
Inner City
Press asked the spokesperson of a Western Council member if in the
closed door consultations how Khatib works -- or does not work --
with the UN's full time Special Adviser on Libya Ian Martin had come
up. Apparently it did.
Ian
Martin,
despite Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office refusal to confirm it,
has hired Dartmouth professor Dirk Vandewalle as a “Political
Adviser.” Some says the UN's engagement on Libya lacks coherence.
Who's running the show: the full time Adviser with the part time
unacknowledged political adviser, or the volunteer?
Ban meets his envoy, now a volunteer, Ian Martin not shown
As
the meeting
broke up, French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud was asked,
“the Libyan rebels are saying there's been a change of heart by
France.” He didn't turn, didn't say a word. He was asked, “Is
that a no comment?” No response to that, either.
UK
Permanent
Representative Mark Lyall Grant stopped and said that Khatib told
Council members he is waiting to hear back from those he met with in
Tripoli. Watch this site.
* * *
As
France
Parachutes
Weapons into Libya, UN Notes Arms Flow to W.
Africa
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
9 -- The UN Office for West Africa reported on Friday
to the Security Council about Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali,
Niger and the Cameroon - Nigeria Mixed Commission. But events in
Libya, while not in West Africa, made their appearance in the report.
Along
with
references
to the loss of remittances from migrant workers in Libya
to the native Mali and Niger and a vague reference to “the
cross-border impact of the Libyan crisis,” Paragraph 57 of the
UNOWA report says “weapons have been transferred from Libya and
fallen into the hands of terrorists in the Sahel Band, risking
destabilizing the whole region.”
A
Security Council
member which on July 7 led
criticism in the Libya Sanctions Committee
of France's “parachuting” of weapons into Libya, saying it
violated the Council's arms embargo, pointed to Paragraph 57 of the
UNOWA report and told Inner City Press, You see? France has no way to
know where its weapons go -- possibly to the Sahel groups which take
French and other internationals hostage.
Sarkozy glad-hands Ban, notification under
Reso
1973 and top DPKO post not shown
In
fact, Algeria
has expressed concerns of weapons from Libya making their way out
across the Tenere Desert of Mali and Niger. The flows from Libya,
into which France added fuel to the fire, were a topic at a recent
meeting in Madrid, and will be at another session in Algeria in
September including groups like the International Centre for
Counter-Terrorism.
Will they
speak out on France's weapons
drops, since the UN Security
Council's Libya Sanctions Committee,
which requires consensus, will clearly not take action, having in
effect exempted Security Council members from the arms embargoes they
impose on others? Watch this site.
* * *
While
France
"Parachuting"
Weapons into Libya is Criticized, UN Committee
Does Not Act: Not "Masochistic," Chair Says
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
7
-- During an hour-long meeting of
the Libya Sanctions
Committee of the UN Security Council behind closed doors on
Thursday
afternoon, France's admitted dropping of weapons into Libya's Nafusa
Mountains was criticized by Council members including Russia, South
Africa and India, as violating the arms embargo in Resolution 1970.
But
afterward when
Inner City Press asked the Committee's chairman, Portugal's Permanent
Representative Cabral, if the committee's requirement of consensus
means that France could block any formal condemnation of its actions,
Cabral said “we're not a kind of masochistic society.”
One
of the
representatives criticizing France, who told Inner City Press that on
this topic four spoke against France and three to varying degrees in
support, said that “if a Permanent member violates sanctions, what
can you do?”
The
representative
pointed to paragraphs 13-16 of Resolution 1970 and said that if
France thought that its provision of weapons into Libya was legal, it
had a procedure to use, but didn't.
Another
delegation
went
further,
saying that France “parachuted” weapons in, not
knowing if they might fall into the hands of Al Qaeda, and asking,
“why not weapons of mass destruction, too?” This representative
said of Cabral, “He has to be serious, this is a precedent -- if
you are not going to enforce them, why even have a committee on
sanctions?”
Inner
City
Press
asked
Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative what had been
accomplished in the meeting. Pankin distinguished between
interpretation -- “legal stuff” -- and the practical, that
objections were voiced and “I hope we will not have such a [case]
again, that's the most practical.” We'll see.
Click
for Mar 1, '11
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12
debate
on
Sri
Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
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Inner
City
Press
are
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and
some are available
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Copyright
2006-08
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City
Press,
Inc.
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