By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- The day after French armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard “said guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions were parachuted in to rebels in the Nafusa mountains” by the French government, Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq if Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received any notification from France of its weapons drops.
First Haq tried to say it is only up to the Security Council and its Libya sanctions committee. But Inner City Press read from Resolution 1973, on the arms embargo and protection of civilians, which only
“Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya... requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph.”
So Inner City Press reiterated the question, which is one of fact and not interpretation: has Ban Ki-moon gotten been informed by France, by means of the requested notification, of this weapons drop allegedly to protect civilians?
“You could ask the government of France who they did or did not notify,” said Haq, Ban's deputy spokesman. This represents a total abdication of Ban of the role assigned to him in Resolution 1973.
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud did not come to the UN Security Council on June 30 after the news broken, instead sending his deputy Martin Briens to decry Syrian lack of compliance with resolutions, even using the word “hypocrisy” without any seeming irony or self-consciousness.
(In any event, Araud is demonstrably loath to speak on the record, having done only three on camera stakeouts during May when France was Council president, versus for example six by Gabon's Ambassador in June.)
Inner City Press asked the chairman of the Council's Libya sanctions committee, Portugal's Ambassador Cabral, who said the "process has started,” referring to statements from the African Union meeting in Malabo. He indicated that the process would start in the sanctions committee upon the complaint of any committee member.
But that does not absolve Ban Ki-moon of the roles assigned to him in Resolution 1973. Did Ban get notification from France or not? Watch this site.
