By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, September 8 -- Scaling back the UN's initial plans for 200 military observers in Libya, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council has proposed a three month UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) in a letter obtained by Inner City Press and put online here.
Ban writes that UNSMIL will "be headed by a Special Representative and will have a Deputy Special Representative."
Well-placed UN sources tell Inner City Press that with mediator Al Khatib frozen out -- not even mentioned in the letter -- Ian Martin is slated to be the SRSG, with or without Libyan approval.
The Deputy SRSG, the sources have told Inner City Press, would be Finland's Georg Charpentier, accused by human rights groups of being far too close with Khartoum in Sudan.
While much limited from Ian Martin's initial military plan, excluively obtained and published by Inner City Press, sources say the Transitional National Council is still dubious.
Ban sets forth six mandates he wants the Security Council to approve, see here. These include:
(a) restore public security and order and promote the rule of law;
(b) undertake inclusive political dialogue, promote national reconciliation and embark on the constitution-making and electoral processes;
(c) extend state authority, including through the strengthening of emerging accountable institutions and the restoration of public services;
(d) protect human rights, particularly for vulnerable groups, and support transitional justice;
(e) take the immediate steps required to initiate economic recovery; and
(f) coordinate the support that may be requested from other multilateral or bilateral actors.
Ironically, Ban's support for this endeavor comes from some countries which abstained on Resolution 1973, now on the theory that it is better for the UN to take the lead rather than NATO.
Thursday in front of the Council, South Africa's Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told Inner City Press, "we hope the NATO bombing stops." But NATO is not mentioned in Ban's letter, nor reportedly in the resolution that the UK was preparing even before Ban's letter.
A wild card here is that in the UK the Conservative David Cameron government is not enamored of Ian Martin, who is decidedly to the Left, having run for political positions for Labor and being involved in the Fabian group.
But Ban's political chief Lynn Pascoe, also slated to brief the Council at 11:30 am on Friday, has reportedly sought to appoint Martin and other Brits to top posts in an attempt to forestall a UK push for the top DPA post that he holds.
Sources say Pascoe has more to fear from Washington wanting a more Obama-aligned Under Secretary General. Watch this site.
