On UN Security Council's Syria Presidential Statement, Elected Ten Members Got Only 18 Hours, Ogwu Told Inner City Press E10 Want More Input

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 16 -- On the UN Security Council's Syria Presidential Statement, now slated to be adopted “unanimously” with Venezuela disassociating itself as Lebanon when it was a member of the Council did on Syria, an issue still unresolved and unreformed is the exclusion of Elected Ten members from negotiations.

  Inner City Press asked Nigeria's Ambassador Joy Ogwu about this on August 14, if the Elected Ten members of the Security Council should  be brought into negotiating documents earlier, Video here, from 2:43.

   Ambassador Ogwu said, on UNTV camera, “That’s an aspiration of the ten elected members. There should be more participation.”

  In this case, until Venezuela objected, they were given a mere 18 hours. What is the point of running for a seat on the Security Council if rubber stamping is all that's expected of you?

  This paragraph, and its compliance or non-compliance with Syria's constitution, was and is at issue:

“10. The Security Council demands that all parties work urgently towards the comprehensive implementation of the Geneva Communiqué, aimed at bringing an end to all violence, violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law and the launching of a Syrian-led political process leading to a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enables them independently and democratically to determine their future, including through the establishment of an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers, which shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent while ensuring continuity of governmental institutions.”

  Disassociation, allowing it to be adopted as unanimous while a member can disavow it, may solve a problem for this particular text. But other ongoing dysfunctions of the Security Council continue. Watch this site.



Back on August 7 the Security Council on August 7 a resolution to establish a so-called accountability mechanism for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Outside the Council before and after the unanimous vote on August 7, Russia's ambassador Vitaly Churkin referred to a Presidential Statement he said may be adopted early next week, to support UN envoy Staffan de Mistura's work.

  Inside the Council after the vote, Syria's Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari began his speech with a reference to the 70th anniversary of the US dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He went to to say the UN never investigated the use of chemical weapons, by rebels he said, in Khan al Asal.

   In its resolution the Security Council “recalls that in its resolution 2118, it decided that the Syrian Arab Republic and all parties in Syria shall cooperate fully with the OPCW and the United Nations.” It seems doubtful that ISIS will cooperate.

   Churkin in his post-vote speech inside the Council said that “the existing mechanics of the UN and OPCW do not have a mandate to identify those participating in such acts. Moreover, we became witnesses of the many politicized statements in this regard, which were clearly meant to be propaganda. It was necessary to eliminate this gap, which was done with the adoption of today’s resolution... Any efforts in the Syrian area must be in line with assisting a search for a political solution to the conflict.”

   Inside the Council, US Samantha Power delivered this speech. At the stakeout, questions were given to Reuters, Al Hurra (really, France 24, by mistake), and Voice of America. (We'll have a separate piece on Power's response to the Press' final question about Burundi. For now, here's previous stakeout, sit-down.

   After the meeting ended, on the steps leading out from the UNSC stakeout, Churkin said “I hope it will translate into our continued joint work on the political front. We are working, I think very well, on a PRST [Presidential Statement] in support of Staffan de Mistura’s efforts. I hope it will be adopted...” More on InnerCityPro.com.
   

Exclusive: On South Sudan Sanctions Draft, Here, African and Latin American Members of UN Security Council Urge Deferring to African Union & IGAD, March 12 Meeting

By Matthew Russell Lee, E-10 Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, February 25 -- When a draft resolution was circulated on February 24 to the UN Security Council which would set up a South Sudan sanctions committee, wire reports focused on the views of the Western Permanent Three members of the Council -- the US, France and UK -- and did not make available to the public the actual nine-page draft.

   Inner City Press in this exclusive dispatch on the morning of February 25 is publishing the full draft, here and embedded below, and can report that that of the Elected Ten or E10, African members Chad and Angola, as well as Latin America members Venezuela and Chile, urged that the African Union and the regional body Intergovernmental Authority should take the lead before any Security Council’s decision.

  Sources tell Inner City Press that in this view, decision should only be taken on the draft after the Security Council meets with IGAD and the African Union Peace and Security Council, scheduled the sources tell Inner City Press for March 12 during a French-organized Security Council trip also including, the sources say, the Central African Republic and Burundi. We'll have more on this.

  On an abuse in South Sudan on which the UN was slow and partial in reporting, Inner City Press on February 24 asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask first about South Sudan.  There was this very kind of high-profile kidnapping of dozens of children, and what I really wanted to ask you about is, although it was initially said it was unclear who did it, there are now reports that the militia that is responsible for it is basically part of the army of South Sudan.  And I wanted to know what Ellen Løj or the human rights component of UNMISS, what they say about those allegations that seem to be serious?

Spokesman Dujarric:  We’ve seen increased reports of kidnapping of children and forced enrollment into units, whether it’s the report you stated which our colleagues at UNICEF have flagged for us, or other reports, and I know it’s something that is of concern to all of us here.  It is being looked at both by the Mission and by different departments here.  But it’s obviously a big concern.  We have worked very hard to ensure that children are freed from such activity, and we will continue do so.

Inner City Press:  But do you expect the UN system to say who is responsible?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I know they’re looking into these — we’ve seen these reports.  We’re looking into them.

  We'll have more on that, as well. Inner City Press has put the full text online here:

South Sudan Sanctions Draft Circulated in UN Security Council, Exclusive Reporting on Non-P3 Deferences to... by Matthew Russell Lee

  The full draft we are publishing, in the public interest, above.  Reuters typically said they "obtained" it but did not publish it; Voice of America said they saw it, and mechanically quoted HRW on Russia and China, with nothing about the view of the African and Latin American members of the Security Council. Watch this site.

   

From Syria, UN Tells Inner City Press That Translators Left and that Ban Ki-moon Respects Elected Ten of UNSC, & Asks for Evidence: Turkish Delight

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 30 -- On Syria, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office put back Friday's "noon" briefing to 12:30, to report on Ban's meeting with the Permanent Five members of the Security Council. 

 But Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky read-out only only Ban's words, not for example those of US Ambassador Samantha Power, who declined questions on the way in and out.

  Inner City Press asked Nesirky what Ban thinks of countries like Turkey and the US which make public summaries of what they call evidence of Assad's guilt for what happened in Ghouta. Nesirky said Ban has encouraged countries to share their evidence with the UN. Video herefrom Minute 11:40.

  So Inner City Press asked if Turkey (or, say, the US) have in fact shared information with the UN. The fact Nesirky repeated that Ban encourages them to seems to imply they have not.

  Amid reports of some of the UN chemical weapons team already leaving Syria, Inner City Press asked if it is true some left for Lebanon.. Nesirky said yes, but only translators and interpreters. Apparently on the inspectors' final day, these are not necessary?

  Later Inner City Press asked about the phrase Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq used in an answer to the Press this week: that the UN team will construct an "evidence based narrative." Does that mean, where the missiles came from?

  Nesirky said it means statements by witnesses and survivors. Okay - would this include those in the military hospital the team just visited? Nesirky would not say if those inside were soldiers, citing medical privacy. (We've reported that in the Eastern Congo the UN obtained medical records of victims of rapes committed by the UN's partners in the Congolese Army's 391 and 41 Battalions.) 

  But did these interviews respond to Syria's requests to inspect three new sites, Bahariya on August 22, Jobar on August 24 and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on August 25?

After John Kerry delivered a slightly delayed statement including calling France the US' oldest ally, two Senior Administration Officials told the press that the US has the evidence, including from NGOs. 

  One official spoke of "geo spacial" evidence, then mentioned gas masks. The second official mused that Assad had wanted to knock out opposition around Damascus, to "invest" in a campaign on Aleppo.

  In the Q&A session, Reuters wanted to know why Obama hasn't made a decision to bomb Damascus yet.

  Reference was made to Obama speaking about Syria with three allies, who turned out to be the Baltics of Estonia, Lithuania & Latvia. At the UN one wondered that Obama, if only as a fluke of scheduling, could speak to countries like these while Ban spoke only to the Permanent Five.

  Back at the UN, Inner City Press asked why Ban had convened only the Permanent Five? Some elected non-permanent members of the Council have complained to Inner City Press they were left out, not even shown the UK draft resolution.

  Nesirky said Ban told the Presidency -- for now, Argentina - that he is willing to brief the full Council. Video here, from Minute 28:22.

 Still to some, proceeding this way unnecessarily magnifies the power of the Five.

Ban will leave New York again on Tuesday. Will he meet the elected Ten before then? Will the US bomb Syria before that? Watch this site.