By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 3 -- With China taking over the UN Security Council presidency for February, Chinese Permanent Representative Liu Jieyi on February 3 fielded questions from the media. Video here and embedded below.
Inner City Press, after requesting that he hold question and answer stakeouts after Council consultations, asked Ambassador Liu about the regional fight against Boko Haram, and about Burundi being in the footnotes of the Program of Work for the month.
Ambassador Liu said that China supports African countries' "rising up" against terrorism and Boko Haram and stands ready to support any such request, saying that other countries should "rally around" it. Inner City Press has previously reported on Chad's request for a resolution. How much longer?
On Burundi, Ambassador Liu explained that items are put in the footnotes at the request of a Council member, and expressed a desire that Burundi progress with reconciliation, economic and social development (the elections are upcoming.) Other items in the footnotes for this month are Ukraine, Mali and the Central African Republic.
Ambassador Liu said that no Council member has yet expressed an intention to table a resolution about Palestine in February. He was asked if the debate scheduled for February 23 is targeted at any country and said no. He answered a final question about poverty reduction by referring to the post-2015 development goals, noting however that these are beyond the mandate of the Security Council.
Yemen will be considered on February 11 -- who will be in charge them? The son of Ali Saleh? The Houthis? Iraq will be considered on February 17; current UN envoy Mladenov is, as Inner City Press first reported on January 30, slated to move to replace Robert Serry as UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East. So who will replace Mladenov in Iraq? Watch this site.
Footnote: The request that Security Council presidents give a summary of closed-door consultations, and take questions on that topic, is one that the Free UN Coalition for Access had made and will continue to make to each incoming Security Council president. Countries' willingness to explain the Security Council's working so that the public, particularly the impacted public, can understanding is not always what knee-jerk coverage of the Council would have one believe. Watch this site.
