On
Syria,
Rumblings of
P5 Plus 1 on
US Draft as
Amos &
Kofi Green
Lighted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
News Muse
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 5 --
While in
Washington
Senator John
McCain called
for US-led
airstrikes on
Syria, citing
as precedent
the campaign
on
Serbia and
Kosovo which
had no UN
Security
Council
approval, in
front
of the
Security
Council Monday
the messages
were mixed.
One
Permanent
Five member's
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
there
would be
"consultations
Tuesday on the
American
draft"
resolution.
Another P5
Perm Rep
disputed that,
and at day's
end when
Inner City
Press asked
the UK's Mark
Lyall Grant,
President of
the
Council for
March, if
there would be
"P5 plus One"
consultation,
he answered
this question
with a
question:
who's the
one?
Morocco,
of
course,
representing
the Arab
League. Lyall
Grant smiled
and said,
"Consultations
continue."
The
scuttlebutt
such as is it
is that at
first the US
Mission to the
UN had a draft
that was all
ceasefire and
humanitarian
access, and
previous
vetoers
said they
might agree to
it, as
they agreed
last week to a
Council
Press
Statement
calling for UN
humanitarian
envoy Valerie
Amos to be
admitted,
and for "all
parties" to
cooperate. [Click here
for that story.]
Then,
the story
goes, the US
added a
"political
dimension" --
surely not as
far as Sen.
McCain would
like, but
further than
the vetoers
are ready
to go at
present.
Meanwhile
a
previously
scheduled
briefing of
the Council
Tuesday by
Valerie Amos
on "the Sahel
and Syria" has
been canceled,
with Amos now
heading to
Syria with a
visa. Kofi
Annan, too,
will be in
Damascus
after that on
March 10.
While in
New York Annan
met with,
among others,
the Permanent
Representatives
of Syria and
Iran. One
obsessed
correspondent
repeatedly ask
the Press,
"Did Kofi meet
with Israel?"
Also on March
10, Russian
Foreign
Minister
Lavrov arrives
in Cairo to
speak with his
Arab
counterparts.
It's after
that,
a
non-permanent
Council
member's
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press,
that things
will get
moving. We'll
see - watch
this site.
, 
