At UN on Libya, As S. Africa Says TNC Would Be Recognized by Resolution, US Says "Let's Vote"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 24 -- With a vote set for August 25 in the UN Security Council on a US sponsored resolution to unfreeze $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets, and to direct some of it "as directed by the National Transitional Council," a question has arisen whether this would implicitly confer UN recognition on the TNC.

South African's Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told the Press on Wednesday this would be a form of recognition of the TNC, adding that his country could live with the resolution if it added that it does not imply this recognition.

When Inner City Press asked a spokesman for the US Mission to the UN spokesman about such a line he said he did not want to prejudge the next 24 hours of negotiations, before the scheduled vote on Thursday afternoon.

But sources inside the consultations say that the argument made against the line was that the Security Council does not give recognition, so the caveat line would not be added.

Since Resolution 1970 provided that frozen assets could only be given to the legitimate Libyan authorities, South Africa argues, the current language of the US drafted resolution would inevitably imply that the TNC is now the legitimate authority.

Others argue that if such a "we do not recognize" line were added, other Council members would act for their own line, "we DO recognize the TNC."

South Africa points to a meeting Thursday of the African Union -- click here for Inner City Press analysis of UN report sources say tells Ban Ki-moon he "can't count on the AU" -- and says it will know more after that.

The timing of the vote called for in the Security Council, 3 pm, does not appear to be based on deference to AU decision making. A spokesman for the US Mission was asked if the timing was so that US official Bill Burns could announce the $1.5 billion at a Libya Contact Group meeting in Istanbul. He reiterated that it is because the needs are urgent.

South Africa's Sangqu told the press that until Tuesday there were other countries with holds on the proposal the US put forward on August 8.

Sangqu did not name the other countries, and the US Mission spokesman, when asked, only emphasized that now South Africa's is the only hold.

So this can be viewed as a strong arming to implicitly recognize the TNC, using urgent needs -- and South Africa's seeming isolation -- as tools. Or it can be called muscular diplomacy. There are, of course, the needs....

One deep background here was the claim in a New York Times article about the voting on Resolution 1973, that US Ambassador Susan Rice went and found Sangqu and shepherded him into the Council to vote on the resolution, an account which South Africa understandably took unbrage at....

Footnote: Sangqu emphasized that "Libya is an African country," and an AU member. Inner City Press is informed that only yesterday did Libya's representation at the AU "change sides" from Gaddafi to the TNC. Watch this site -- and click here for Inner City Press analysis of in-fighting at the UN on "post-conflict" Libya.

At UN on Libya, US Pushes $1.5 B "Package Deal" Including to "Int'l Mechanism", Snubbing S. African $500 M Offer?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 24 -- While calling the needs of Libya's National Transitional Council "urgent," the US is declining a stated offer from South Africa to immediately release for humanitarian purposes $500 million in frozen Libyan funds.

The US says it asked for $1.5 billion in the UN Security Council's Libya Sanctions Committee on August 8, and that the three $500 million tranches can or will not be separated: they are a "package."

The draft resolution handed out by the US Wednesday afternoon includes not only $500 million into the UN Appeal, $500 million to third-party vendors and an "international mechanism... up to $500 million."

South Africa says that the Portuguese chair of the Sanctions Committee has "in correspondence" confirmed that the humanitarian $500 million could be immediately released. The US is instead circulating a resolution, which could survive a negative vote by South Africa -- but not Russia or China -- for decision "Thursday or Friday."

Some view South Africa as being intransigent, as still being "in the bag" for Gaddafi. In this view, the draft resolution to unfreeze $1.5 billion and release some of it directly to the National Transitional Council will "isolate" South Africa.

Others say it is the US which is playing politics, trying to make African Union member South Africa go along with the full $1.5 billion amount including direct transfer to the TNC, or look like South Africa is, well, in the bag for Gaddafi.

Further background was the repeated reports of South African planes on the tarmac in Tripoli, some said to help Gaddafi flee the country. UN sources tell Inner City Press that the planes got stranded there with a lack of fuel.

Ultimate background is the report from UN "post-conflict" envoy on Libya Ian Martin to Ban Ki-moon, which a well placed UN official tells Inner City Press says we "can't count on the African Union."

Another UN official on Wednesday told Inner City Press that Martin is "taking over" for Al Khatib, who "got hammered" for not having a written post-conflict plan. Meanwhile Al Khatib chafed at Martin traveling to Doha with him as an equal. So, for the on Libya, a Jordanian or a Brit -- or an Italo-Argentine. What about an African? Watch this site.