By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 21 -- How the UN Security Council functions, and doesn't, was on display Tuesday, amid a farewell to the UK's political coordinator David Quarrey as well as news of who will replace Loraine Sievers in Security Council Affairs.
It was only in mid-May that Russia's political coordinator Vladimir Safronkov passed on to Quarrey the silver cup meant for the dean of Security Council political coordinators. Click here for Inner City Press' exclusive report.
Now it will go to France, whose Permanent Representative was in attendance as well, as well as his counterpart from Lebanon. Russia's political coordinator, who just began, joked that he may never get it.
Without breaching any, or many, diplomatic secrets, we can report that UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant is a lifelong fan of the West Ham football club -- or at least since the 1970s, where they were “the most violent club” according to one reception attendee.
Closer to the work of the Council, an attendee at both consultations Tuesday afternoon told Inner City Press that “even the US” knows that recognition of the Libyan rebels in Benghazi will not be in any Council presidential statement, and was “engaging.”
So too on the Sudan PRST, on which Sudan's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press earlier on Tuesday that “two paragraphs have to go, or the relations between Sudan and the UN will be changed.”
As a warm roast to Quarrey, it was recalled that his first intervention in the Council was to ask when a certain UN Mission would be discussed. When asked what the mission was, Quarrey answered honestly that he didn't not know, his expert had asked him to raise it.
Norma Chan said she respected that. Her successor, present Tuesday night, said he earlier that day sent out notice of Loraine's replacement, and disagreed with Inner City Press that her successor has being sent notices about July's work before today's announcement. We stand to be corrected -- or not.
Quarrey is getting promoted to the UK's new version of the US national security apparatus. In light of Tuesday's quote by David Cameron that he wished the generals would fight and he speak, Quarrey and the agency's role seems to be to convey the speeches to the fighters. We wish him luck.
