By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 30 -- Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, former Nicaraguan foreign minister and UN General Assembly President, has been named Libya's permanent representative to the UN in a letter from Gaddafi's foreign minister Musa Koussa, a copy of which Inner City Press has obtained.
Click here for letter in Arabic (PDF), here for Spanish translation by Nicaraguan government (Word).
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told the Press at noon on March 30 that the UN had not received the letter. When Inner City Press asked him about Koussa's letter's statement that the US had denied a visa to Gaddafi's first replacement, Ali Treki, Haq said "ask the United States." Inner City Press has, without response.
Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann is a dual citizen of Nicaragua and the United States - he does not need a visa. And on March 31 he will hold a press conference, which Haq presented only in terms of Nicaragua and the GA, not Libya.
The stakes are now raised at the UN. Under customary procedure, d'Escoto Brockmann would be accepted as Permanent Representative replacing Shalgam. He could then enter and speak in the Security Council, as well as go and “clean out” the Libyan Mission to the UN on 48th Street of all those who renounced Gaddafi.
But these are not customary times. It is possible that Western “coalition” members and / or Secretary General Ban Ki-moon could push Musa Koussa's letter to the General Assembly's Credential Committee, as they recently did the case of Cote d'Ivoire. That would set a precedent. Watch this site.
