On Syria, Draft Resolution Calling For Ceasefire Published by Inner City Press on Patreon

By Matthew Russell Lee, Full on Patreon here

UNITED NATIONS, February 14 – Amid talk that a call for a ceasefire in Syria is unrealistic, Inner City Press on February 14 published the full text of the UN Security Council draft resolution making that call and more, here on Patreon. Some highlights from the Operative Paragraphs: the Security Council

 "Decides that all parties to the Syrian conflict shall immediately abide by a humanitarian pause and cessation of violence throughout Syria, for a period of 30 consecutive days to begin at [00:00 h, (Damascus time) on XX February 2018], [72 hours after the adoption of this resolution], to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid and services and medical evacuations of the critically sick and wounded;  Further decides that, 48 hours after the start of the humanitarian pause, all parties to the Syrian conflict shall allow and facilitate weekly United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoys to all requested areas based on United Nations’ assessments of need, in order to allow safe, unimpeded and sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid, including medical and surgical supplies, to the millions of people in need in all parts of Syria, in particular to those 5.6 million people in 1,244 communities in acute need, including the 2.9 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged locations; Decides moreover that all parties to the conflict shall allow and facilitate unconditional medical evacuations by the United Nations and its implementing partners, based on medical need and urgency, and requests the United Nations and their implementing partners to start undertaking such medical evacuations 48 hours after the start of the humanitarian pause... Endorses the five measures identified by the Emergency Relief Coordinator on 11 January 2018 during his mission to Syria, and calls on all parties to facilitate the implementation of these five measures and others as specified in relevant Security Council resolutions, to ensure principled, sustained and improved humanitarian assistance to Syria in 2018; Calls upon all parties to immediately lift the sieges of populated areas, including in Eastern Ghouta, Yarmouk, Foua and Kefraya, and demands that all parties allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance, including medical assistance, cease depriving civilians of food and medicine indispensable to their survival, and enable the rapid, safe and unhindered evacuation of all civilians who wish to leave, and underscores the need for the parties to agree on humanitarian pauses, days of tranquility, localized ceasefires and truces to allow humanitarian agencies safe and unhindered access to all affected areas in Syria, recalling that starvation of civilians as a method of combat is prohibited by international humanitarian law [2139 with updated locations];
OP 8. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the implementation of this resolution, and on compliance by all relevant parties in Syria within 15 days of adoption of this resolution and thereafter..." We'll have more on this. On February 9, after Inner City Press exclusively reported that the UN's top Middle East post is slated for Susanne Rose with only "basic Arabic," Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq refused Inner City Press' questions about the selection process. 

The top UN Political Affairs position belongs to the United States. With Obama-nominee Jeffrey Feltman set to leave by March 31, now Feltman has used his final days to name an ally or protege to head the Middle East and Western Asia Division, to continue his views even under his replacement. It is Susanne Rose, who worked for Feltman in Beirut. But she speaks only "basic Arabic." There is grumbling in DPA - and elsewhere.  

Here's from the letter, by Feltman's deputy Miroslav Jenca since Feltman is in South Korea with Guterres, or to create the illusion of recusal: Rose was "Political and Economic Counselor in Beirut, Middle East Officer in Rome (where she spent the first year as an exchange diplomat at the NATO office of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs, and Economic Officer in Trinidad and Tobago.... Susanne speaks French, Italian, Spanish, German, and basic Arabic. She was born in Berkeley, California, and has a 14-month year old Havanese dog named Tartufo." 

Senior staff and diplomats have been asking Inner City Press which American will replace Feltman. On January 25, amid complaints of Guterres' silence and long weekends away, a name emerged leaving some shaking their heads: Dina Powell. "She's perfect," one said of Trump's deputy national security adviser for strategy of whom spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she's "returning home to New York. She’s expected to continue working with the administration on Middle East policy issues from outside the White House." Why not from the UN? (Some now tell Inner City Press she has declined the post.) Inner City Press notes she's been spotted in Davos, where Guterres at the last moment did not go. "Really?" demanded another, alongside a controversial Serbian government presentation in the UN Delegates' Entrance. Stranger things have happened. Guterres gave his "Global Communications" position to an official, Alison Smale, who refuses to answer Press questions even about whistleblowers'complaints about her Department of Public Information. 

Another Brit Martin Griffiths seems destined to take over the UN's Yemen envoy post, perhaps taking with him some staff currently assigned to Staffan de Mistura for Syria. Other Department of Political Affairs posts have already been given away, but not yet announced. Until now.