By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 1 -- After
the US put
"in blue" a
draft UN
Security
Council
resolution
about the
Sudans on
Monday, it
emerged
there is not
agreement on
the sanctions
reference in
the draft and
another more
nitty gritty
fight is in
the Council.
The
so-called 1540
committee on
terrorism has
eight experts,
but nine
candidates
this
time. The
fight boils
down to two
seats for
three experts
from three
countries: the
UK, Germany
and Pakistan.
Pakistan
says that
the 1540
experts group
already
"Europe-heavy."
Germany
counters that
geography is
not the
criterion, and
there is no
reason
to limit this
stage to a
three-for-two
in which it is
expected to
drop out. All
eight are up
for grabs.
Meanwhile
on
Tuesday, even
Security
Council
members going
in for
bilateral
meetings with
the new Azeri
president of
the Council
for May asked
Inner City
Press about
the status of
the Sudans
resolution.
There is
not only the
question of
sanctions, but
how to deal
with South
Sudan's entry
into, and some
say
intentional
destruction
of, Heglig
oil
facilities.
Several
Council
members'
Ambassadors in
Khartoum --
NOT the US --
were taken to
visit
Heglig; one
country called
the damage
"sizable."
Another
Council member
has
photographs
and estimated
the damage at
$1
billion. Who
will pay?
Another
item
floating as
Azerbaijan
takes over
from the US is
whether and
when
ECOWAS
will come for
Security
Council
endorsement of
its plans in
Mali and
Guinea Bissau.
A well placed
Council member
told Inner
City
Press on
Tuesday that
ECOWAS "may"
come brief the
Council
about Guinea
Bissau, and
ask for
endorsement at
that time.
Or they
might "pull a
Kenya" -- a
reference to
Kenya merely
informing
the Council
president that
it had sent
troops into Somalia,
or "pull an
Ethiopia." For
the record,
Eritrea's
President
Isaias Afwerki
resurfaced
over the
weekend on
state
television,
putting an end
it seems to
reports at the
UN of his
death. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
the
US Mission
last act in
April as a Jazz Day
concert in the
General
Assembly,
featuring
among others
Herbie
Hancock, Wayne
Shorter, Hugh
Masekela,
Stevie Wonder,
Esmeralda
Spalding and
near the end a
Latin
jazz groups
led by Bobby
Sanabria,
accompanied by
a 91 year old
drummer.
US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
opined that
the General
Assembly
Hall had never
been so cool,
and might
never be
again. We'll
see.
