UNSC
Reconsiders
Trip to Yemen,
Some Saying 12
of 15 Favor,
Others
Denying
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 2 --
In front of
the UN
Security
Council on the
day after New
Years, Inner
City Press learned
and
exclusively
reported that
a Council
consultation
scheduled for
the next
afternoon will
concern not
only Central
African
Republic,
with the
Seleka rebels
advancing on
the capital
Bangui, but
also
Yemen.
"Not
about the
situation in
the country,"
a Council
member told
Inner
City Press,
"but about a
trip there."
Back
in October,
Inner City
Press covered
the
consultations
in which it
was determined
that a trip to
Yemen and
Afghanistan
was too
dangerous.
While some
implied this
should not
have been
reported,
outgoing
UN Security
chief Greg
Starr told
Inner City
Press it is
not
reasonable to
expect 15
countries, and
a greater
number of
their
diplomats, to
keep a secret.
And
so it is with
this renewed
consideration
of the Yemen
trip. Inner
City Press is
told that this
time, for a
trip with
"only one real
day in Yemen,"
12 of the
Council's 15
members want
to go. Inner
City Press was
told the
dates, but is
not publishing
them.
That
may well be,
but it is not
official.
Another
Council source
said the
number is too
high; another
said, nothing
has been
decided yet.
At
least one
Permanent Five
member told
Inner City
Press they had
not
decided yet.
Yemen
is often cited
as one of the
Council's and
UN's success
stories in
2012. (Inner
City Press has covered it,
as well as the
Ali Saleh
legacy in
Yemen's
Mission to the
UN, here).
Another longer
term story
that's
emphasized is
that of Timor
Leste, and the
Council
visited there.
Yemen, of
course, is
different.
And until
we're shown
otherwise --
we're open to
that -- we'll
apply the
modified (no
date) "Starr
rules,"
and (mostly)
report on it.
Watch this
site.
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