At
UN,
Gabon Begins
Move for More
Sanctions on
Eritrea in
UNSC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 14,
updated -- For
days as the
Eritrean
Permanent
Representative
Araya Desta
has been
checking and
re-checking
the
Security
Council,
Gabon's
Permanent
Representative
Nelson Messone
has
been speaking
to other
member's
ambassadors
one by one.
When
Inner City
Press asked
Messone what
project he was
working on,
Messone
laughed
it off. Desta
meanwhile said
that the next
step would be
Eritrea's
submission of
its
"comprehensive
response" to
charges that
it, among
other things,
planned to
bomb the
Africa Union
summit in
Addis Ababa.
"We will never
give in,"
Desta told
Inner City
Press.
On
Friday morning
outside the
so-called
"horizon
briefing" of
the Council by
the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs,
sources told
Inner City
Press
that the
topics in the
closed meeting
included
Somalia,
Madagascar
and
"sanctions."
Then Inner
City Press
heard that
Gabon
would be
circulating a
draft
resolution for
new sanctions
on Eritrea.
Desta
previously in
the Council,
new sanctions
not shown
Then one
source then
another said
that new
Eritrea
sanctions were
mentioned in
the
consultations
Friday
morning.
Diplomats from
Eritrea's
neighbors came
down to the
stakeout. It
had begun:
Watch this
site.
Update
of
12:50 pm -- As
the Security
Council
meeting broke
up, it was
confirmed that
Gabon is
circulating
the draft
Eritrea
sanctions
resolution,
and that South
Africa is not
a co-sponsor.
Inner City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Jeffrey
DeLaurentis if
the US is a
co-sponsor of
the
resolution. "Nothing
for you today,"
he
said.
Subsequently
another
Permanent Five
member's
representative
told Inner
City Press
that
confidentiality
was a major
topic in the
consultations
-
although not
mostly
directed at
the topic of
Eritrea. More
to follow.
Watch this
site.
, 
