By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 18 -- It was past 8 pm outside the UN Security Council when the day's Syria “elements to the press” were read out by April's Council president, EugeneRichard Gasana of Rwanda.
When he finished reading, Inner City Press asked him if this meant that aid could come in from across Syria's borders, as the UN's top humanitarian Valerie Amos had requested.
Ambassador Gasana said he didn't want to go beyond the statement, which was hard negotiated. Video here.
Afterward, off camera but on the record, Gasana told Inner City Press that he was particularly grateful to Russia for agreeing to the statement, and to Australia for the first draft.
Inner City Press reported earlier, while waiting for Gasana to return and read out the agreed to press elements, that for Gasana the Rwanda genocide of 1994 makes him particularly committed to getting something agreed to on Syria during his month as Council president.
In a closed door consultation of the Council before he became president, Gasana made just this connection to the other Council members, several of them recounted to Inner City Press.
It is ironic - if that is the right word - that the Council is routinely briefed by an individual, Herve Ladsous, who during the Rwanda genocide argued, in speeches and inmemos, to let the genocidaires escape into Eastern Congo. Click here for that. Watch this site.
