At UN, US' Rice Accuses Russia of Quibbling on Cote d'Ivoire, Claims Neutrality
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice on Tuesday accused Russia of “quibbling with resolutions” on Cote d'Ivoire which it had voted for, and responded to Russia's demand for a “correction” of her statement that the presence in the Security Council of diplomats selected by Laurent Gbagbo did not “endorse or refute the results of the election” which the Electoral Commission and UN envoy Y.J. Choi say Gbagbo lost.
Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Konstantin Dolgov earlier told Inner City Press that Rice had not been authorized by his country, and therefore not by the Council, to speak on the legitimacy of the Cote d'Ivoire diplomats in the Council, characterizing Rice's as a political and not a legal statement.
Inner City Press asked Rice to respond, as she entered the Council for continued consultation on Cote d'Ivoire and the recent ECOWAS statement (and decision to suspend Cote d'Ivoire from the group.) Rice first said, “You heard from Russia, they can speak for themselves.” After being Pressed, Rice continued that “What I said was completely neutral and non judgmental.
“It was to preserve the neutrality of the Council,” she said, “so it wasn't construed one way or the other as endorsing or refuting the elections results.. simply to keep us clean on that point.”
Of Dolgov, Rice said “He is free to object in his national capacity and make a point of order. No one else did. I think it was a plain statement of what is right.”
Thought: It was an indirect and procedural way of asserting the position that Laurent Gbagbo is no longer the legitimate head of state of Cote d'Ivoire. One can understand why Russia would object -- calling it a "political rather than a legal statement" -- while understanding why Rice would make such a point “for the record” or “to keep us clean on that point.”
Will the record in fact be corrected in some way, as Russia requested? Dolgov told Inner City Press he was checking with Russia's lawyers. Watch this site.
Footnote: what is not known is why Rice and the US Mission have not spoken out or called for a Council meeting about first the 10 SPLM soldiers killed last week -- Inner City Press' request for comment remains unresponded to -- and now the SPLM's call for a Security Council investigation into Khartoum's continued bombing of Western Bahr al Ghazal State. Watch this site.