By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- The Asian Group met Wednesday morning in the UN's North Lawn building, with whether Kuwait would replace Syria as its candidate for the Human Rights Council on the agenda. The Press watched through the wide windows of the ECOSOC Chamber as Syria and Kuwait both spoke.
It's done, a Deputy Permanent Representative exiting the Chamber told the Press. All they have to do is gavel it.
But before they did, UN Security moved the press away from the windows, and then from the Chamber as a whole.
When finally the ambassadors emerged, Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari put the best face on his stand-down. It's just a postponement of our candidacy, he told the press.
Why? To focus on other priorities, he said, not without irony.
Inner City Press asked about Dera'a, and whether the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will be allowed in to assess needs. But Ja'afari did not answer. His Kuwaiti equivalent said they would take the seat from 2011 to 2013, then Syria will run for 2014 to 2016. We'll see.
