By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 23 -- The draft statement on Libya proposed by the African members of the UN Security Council has been stalled by a series of proposed amendments including one by the United States that
“The Members of the Security Council urged Member States to recognize the Transitional National Council as the legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people.”
The US Mission to the UN did not answer Inner City Press' written questions about the amendment on June 21. On June 23, Inner City Press was able to ask US Ambassador Susan Rice:
Inner City Press: on the Libya presidential statement that's been pending for some time, [I] was told that the U.S. had proposed language to the effect that member states recognized the Transitional National Council as the legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people. The U.S. hasn't recognized the TNC. How is it consistent that U.S. would be proposing that as an amendment and essentially killing this PRST?
Ambassador Rice: We have stated, the United States has stated, that we view the TNC as the legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people. That has been our stated policy now. I think the statement was made on or about June 9th. Now, so there's no discrepancy there. And that is the basis of U.S policy.
While the first draft of the statement was circulated before the African Union ministerial delegation met with the Security Council on June 15, once that date pass the purpose of the statement was said to be as a summary and memorialization of the meeting.
Numerous sources inside the June 15 “informal interactive dialogue” say that members, including the US, did not in that meeting “urged Member States to recognize the Transitional National Council as the legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people.”
The Deputy Permanent Representative of one of the seven countries fully supporting the African Libya PRST about the draft and this paragraph. The DPR, after a shake of the head, said: “They should stick to what was said in the room... We try to.”
Also on June 23, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the UN's coordinator with NATO:
Inner City Press: Mr. Gaye, the chief military protocol guy of the United Nations, Babacar Gaye, met with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]. And NATO has put out a press release talking about operational readiness, how the two worked together. And I just wondered: did the UN in that meeting raise issues concerning NATO’s admission that civilians were killed by its bombing Libya, given the UN’s role or the Secretariat’s role under resolution 1973 (2011)?
Spokesperson: I’ll ask my colleagues in DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations], but the Secretary-General is on record repeatedly as saying that the point of the resolution is to avoid civilian casualties and he has also made it clear that he has had conversations with NATO leaders up to, and including, the NATO Secretary-General on precisely this topic. Next question?
We'll see. On the draft Libya PRST, there was supposed to be a discussion on June 23 under “Any Other Business” but it didn't take place. Two delegation told Inner City Press their versions of “why,” but we'll wait to hear from the statement's sponsors themselves. Watch this site.