Inner City Press Asks UN if Feltman at Benghazi Committee Will Be Under Oath, UNanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- Two days after Inner City Press asked the UN why its Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman forwarded other UN officials' emails to his former colleagues at the US State Department months after he moved to the UN, US sources told Inner City Press Feltman is slated to head to Washington on December 8.

 In October in the House Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, it was noted that the Committee had none of Feltman's emails. After sources told Inner City Press Feltman will appear before the Committee on December 8, Inner City Press on December 4 asked UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm or deny it. Video here.

  Haq declined to confirm, telling Inner City Press to ask the US.But what if Feltman used UN lawyers to respond? And as shown, Feltman after working at the UN continued to forward emails, including other UN officials' emails, to the US State Department.

 Inner City Press on December 7 asked the UN, will Feltman be under oath on December 8? From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: I'd asked you, I guess, on Friday about Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman testifying.  You said, ask the US.  So I have.  It's confirmed and formalized.  He will testify on Tuesday.  The one thing I wanted to ask you, which I think only the UN can answer, is whether he… whether the condition of his testimony is that he will not take… will he testify under oath, and how does this impinge on UN immunity and previous precedence in this?

Deputy Spokesman:  As I understand it, these are for actions that precede his work as an Under-Secretary-General and is part of a separate and prior responsibility.

Inner City Press:  But did he use… did he confer with UNOLA [Office of Legal Affairs]?  That's why I was asking on Friday.  It seems like, if UNOLA lawyers are involved in responding to the request that he testify, obviously, he's not being… he's being asked to testify about a previous time, but there is a UN hook, and was it negotiated that he will not take the oath before testifying?

Deputy Spokesman:  I wouldn't have any comment on the UN side.  Like I said, this is something that precedes his period with the UN.

  This takes place amid unanswered Press questions about Feltman's and Ban's knowledge of Bernardino Leon, while UN Envoy to Libya, negotiating a $500,000 a year job with the United Arab Emirates, a player to say the least in Libya. We'll have more on this.

 On November 30 among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department was one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwarded the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, afterstarting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On December 1, 2014, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: about Mr. Feltman, yesterday, as happens monthly, there was a release of… of e-mails by the US State Department.  And without getting into all the… all 5,000 of the e-mails, I wanted to ask about the ones that involve Mr. Feltman, specifically in the time frame after he left the State Department and came to the UN.  So, there’s an e-mail in 19 October 2012.  This is months after he was at the UN, in which he forwards to Jake Sullivan and others in the State Department his communications with Derek Plumbly about Lebanon.  And he says, “Here’s my communications with my guy in Lebanon”, redacted, redacted, redacted, “please tell me what you think and advise.”  And I guess I wanted to ask you, is it… what is the… what’s the protocol for a former… of any government, not just the US, for a UN official to share what are presumably confidential UN communications with his previous employer, and how would you… how do you respond to this?

Spokesman:  I think the way to look at it is that, I think, through our mediation efforts, UN officials are often in touch with Foreign Ministries or permanent missions and share our analysis.  And that’s often how we get our work done.  I’m not going to comment on the exact… you know, what exactly was said.  I haven’t seen the e-mail.  But I think it’s… you know, we have contact, and we share our analysis with members of the Security Council, with permanent missions and Foreign Ministries.

Inner City Press:  My question is one of the e-mails… in one of the e-mails, Mr. Feltman says, I’ve tried to send this through Hotmail, but it didn’t work, which to me implies it wasn’t necessarily as a UN official.  Like, would you say… in what you’ve described as the protocol, should this be done very clearly as a UN official seeking advice from the…?

Spokesman:  As I said, I think there is nothing untoward with senior UN officials who we often… in dealing with mediation, we need to consult with different sides and share analysis and share information.

Inner City Press:  [Did he] share with others, other than the US?

Spokesman:  I’ll leave it at that. 

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf -- saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He wasnot using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, theM23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" email about February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that gettingcanceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are about responding to the Government of Sri Lankacomplaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

Inner City Press Asks UN of Feltman Summoned to Benghazi Committee in DC on December 8, Is Told "Ask US"

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series

UNITED NATIONS, December 4 -- Three days after Inner City Press asked the UN why its Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman forwarded other UN officials' emails to his former colleagues at the US State Department months after he moved to the UN, US sources tell Inner City Press Feltman is slated to head to Washington on December 8.

 In October in the House Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, it was noted that the Committee had none of Feltman's emails. After sources told Inner City Press Feltman will appear before the Committee on December 8, Inner City Press on December 4 asked UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm or deny it. Video here.

  Haq declined to confirm, telling Inner City Press to ask the US.But what if Feltman used UN lawyers to respond? And as shown, Feltman after working at the UN continued to forward emails, including other UN officials' emails, to the US State Department.

 Inner City Press now asks, will Feltman be under oath on December 8? Watch this site.

  This takes place amid unanswered Press questions about Feltman's and Ban's knowledge of Bernardino Leon, while UN Envoy to Libya, negotiating a $500,000 a year job with the United Arab Emirates, a player to say the least in Libya. We'll have more on this.

 On November 30 among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department was one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwarded the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, afterstarting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On December 1, 2014, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: about Mr. Feltman, yesterday, as happens monthly, there was a release of… of e-mails by the US State Department.  And without getting into all the… all 5,000 of the e-mails, I wanted to ask about the ones that involve Mr. Feltman, specifically in the time frame after he left the State Department and came to the UN.  So, there’s an e-mail in 19 October 2012.  This is months after he was at the UN, in which he forwards to Jake Sullivan and others in the State Department his communications with Derek Plumbly about Lebanon.  And he says, “Here’s my communications with my guy in Lebanon”, redacted, redacted, redacted, “please tell me what you think and advise.”  And I guess I wanted to ask you, is it… what is the… what’s the protocol for a former… of any government, not just the US, for a UN official to share what are presumably confidential UN communications with his previous employer, and how would you… how do you respond to this?

Spokesman:  I think the way to look at it is that, I think, through our mediation efforts, UN officials are often in touch with Foreign Ministries or permanent missions and share our analysis.  And that’s often how we get our work done.  I’m not going to comment on the exact… you know, what exactly was said.  I haven’t seen the e-mail.  But I think it’s… you know, we have contact, and we share our analysis with members of the Security Council, with permanent missions and Foreign Ministries.

Inner City Press:  My question is one of the e-mails… in one of the e-mails, Mr. Feltman says, I’ve tried to send this through Hotmail, but it didn’t work, which to me implies it wasn’t necessarily as a UN official.  Like, would you say… in what you’ve described as the protocol, should this be done very clearly as a UN official seeking advice from the…?

Spokesman:  As I said, I think there is nothing untoward with senior UN officials who we often… in dealing with mediation, we need to consult with different sides and share analysis and share information.

Inner City Press:  [Did he] share with others, other than the US?

Spokesman:  I’ll leave it at that. 

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf -- saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He wasnot using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, theM23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" email about February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that gettingcanceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are about responding to the Government of Sri Lankacomplaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

UN Official Jeffrey Feltman Summoned to Benghazi Committee December 8, Shared UN Emails With US

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series

UNITED NATIONS, December 4 -- Three days after Inner City Press asked the UN why its Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman forwarded other UN officials' emails to his former colleagues at the US State Department months after he moved to the UN, US sources tell Inner City Press Feltman is slated to head to Washington on December 8.

 In October in the House Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, it was noted that the Committee had none of Feltman's emails. Now sources there tell Inner City Press Feltman will appear before the Committee on December 8, extraordinary for a UN official and presumably requiring conferring with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

  This takes place amid unanswered Press questions about Feltman's and Ban's knowledge of Bernardino Leon, while UN Envoy to Libya, negotiating a $500,000 a year job with the United Arab Emirates, a player to say the least in Libya. We'll have more on this.

 On November 30 among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department was one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwarded the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, after starting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On December 1, 2014, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: about Mr. Feltman, yesterday, as happens monthly, there was a release of… of e-mails by the US State Department.  And without getting into all the… all 5,000 of the e-mails, I wanted to ask about the ones that involve Mr. Feltman, specifically in the time frame after he left the State Department and came to the UN.  So, there’s an e-mail in 19 October 2012.  This is months after he was at the UN, in which he forwards to Jake Sullivan and others in the State Department his communications with Derek Plumbly about Lebanon.  And he says, “Here’s my communications with my guy in Lebanon”, redacted, redacted, redacted, “please tell me what you think and advise.”  And I guess I wanted to ask you, is it… what is the… what’s the protocol for a former… of any government, not just the US, for a UN official to share what are presumably confidential UN communications with his previous employer, and how would you… how do you respond to this?

Spokesman:  I think the way to look at it is that, I think, through our mediation efforts, UN officials are often in touch with Foreign Ministries or permanent missions and share our analysis.  And that’s often how we get our work done.  I’m not going to comment on the exact… you know, what exactly was said.  I haven’t seen the e-mail.  But I think it’s… you know, we have contact, and we share our analysis with members of the Security Council, with permanent missions and Foreign Ministries.

Inner City Press:  My question is one of the e-mails… in one of the e-mails, Mr. Feltman says, I’ve tried to send this through Hotmail, but it didn’t work, which to me implies it wasn’t necessarily as a UN official.  Like, would you say… in what you’ve described as the protocol, should this be done very clearly as a UN official seeking advice from the…?

Spokesman:  As I said, I think there is nothing untoward with senior UN officials who we often… in dealing with mediation, we need to consult with different sides and share analysis and share information.

Inner City Press:  [Did he] share with others, other than the US?

Spokesman:  I’ll leave it at that. 

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf --saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He was not using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, the M23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" emailabout February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

On Libya, UN's Outgoing Envoy Bernardino Leon Condemns Airstrikes on Benghazi As He Prepares to Leave, Martin Kobler in the Wings

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 19, more here -- With the UN's outgoing envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon trying to put a positive spin of every twist and turn of his talks, on September 19 his Mission condemned airstrikes, text here and below. Meanwhile Martin Kobler, amid electoral fights and the FDLR in the DR Congo where's he's based is said poised to take the Libya post. Such is the UN. Here is its statement:

"The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) strongly condemns the military escalation in Benghazi on Saturday 19 September 2015. The timing of airstrikes clearly aims at undermining the on-going efforts to end the conflict.

Benghazi has suffered for too long. Too many civilians have been killed or wounded and more than 100,000 have been displaced by the conflict that has raged in the city for over a year now. Residential neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. The latest air offensive will add to the suffering of the city’s population at a time when the Libyan people are preparing to mark Eid al-Adha. This latest escalation will almost certainly deny them the hope they would have had to celebrate the Eid festivities in peace and calm, the Mission said.

Developments on the ground in Libya over the course of the past year have clearly shown that a military solution is not a viable option in Libya. Whether in Benghazi or elsewhere in the country, armed hostilities have shown time and again that they can only bring destruction and suffering for the Libyan people.

UNSMIL said the airstrikes are a clear attempt to undermine and derail the on-going efforts to end the conflict at a time when the negotiations have entered a final and most critical stage. The only solution must be within the framework of the on-going dialogue process and a political settlement that ensures inclusion, balance and consensus. The parties in Libya now have a historic opportunity to reach such an agreement that brings an end to the divisions and suffering, and allows for a new page to be turned in Libya.

UNSMIL calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Benghazi and across Libya, and on the warring parties to desist from any escalation or counterattack, and to exercise utmost restraint to give the on-going dialogue in Skhirat the chance to successfully conclude in the coming hours. The Mission calls on the parties to the conflict to cease immediately all indiscriminate attacks, noting that attacks against civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes, and that those responsible will be fully held accountable.

Furthermore, UNSMIL calls on officials and influential personalities who support the political dialogue process to use their influence and leverage to de-escalate the military situation on the ground. It added that the military escalation should not derail efforts underway by sincere and patriotic Libyans who want to see peace and stability restored to their country."

   Back on August 26, Leon briefed the UN Security Council about his political agreement still without the Tripoli-based General National Congress, and Libya's Ibrahim Dabbashi chided Council members about Al Qaeda, the Security Council agreed on Elements to the Press read out by President for August Joy Ogwu, below. Periscope video here,YouTube video here.
 
  When Ogwu finished reading out the Press Elements, she was asked a series of questions... about South Sudan. The failures on Libya were forgotten, or no longer news at least at the UN. Inner City Press asked Ogwu if in consultations the Council members had discussed Dabbashi's critique, that Al Qaeda is more of a problem than ISIS or Daesh. We do not discriminate between terrorist groups, Ogwu said. There was less of an answer on South Sudan (Inner City Press' South Sudan coverage is online here.)

   Leon among other things said that "there can be no doubt that the danger posed by Daesh to Libya and the Libyan people is real, imminent and palpable. Libyan security and military actors, as well as political stakeholders on either side of the divide, are fully cognizant of the danger posed by Daesh-affiliated militants. However, they must recognize that no strategy aim at containing, if not eliminating, the Daesh threat will be viable unless it is part of a concerted, unified and coordinated effort that brings all Libyans together under a single banner whose allegiance is to the Libyan State, and to a Government that is inclusive and representative of all Libyans.

  “Although the General National Congress in Tripoli did not initial the main text of the Libyan Political Agreement along with other dialogue participants on July 11, I am confident that their concerns can be addressed in ongoing discussions on the annexes of the Agreement, including those pertaining to the formation of the Government of National Accord.

  “I am increasingly confident that the process is finally drawing to its final stages. Time is running out. the onus is on Libya's leaders on all sides, and at all levels, to make that final push towards peace. Equally important, the international community must also move quickly to present a clearly articulated strategy in support of the Libyan State and the efforts by the Government of National Accord to contain and eliminate the threat that groups like Daesh are posing not only to the stability of Libya, but equally to regional and international security."

  [The UN Spokesperson's office did not until 1 pm have a copy of Leon's 10 am speech - and even then, still "check against delivery," as noted and questioned by the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA.]

  From the Security Council's August 26 Elements to the Press, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

  “Security Council members noted the progress in the political process as well as the local ceasefire initiatives in some parts of Libya. They however expressed their concern about deterioration in the political, security and humanitarian situation. Council members underscored that only an inclusive and representative government can resolve the political and security challenges inside the country.

  “In particular Council members expressed  concern about expansion of extremism by ISIL and other terrorist groups. They expressed support for the ongoing peace process that aims to establish a government of national unity. In this regard they welcomed the initialing of the Agreement of 11 of July, 2015 as a critical step toward peace and stability in the country. They urged those parties that are yet to sign to do so without delay.

  “Council members urged the international community to continue to support the political process in Libya in order to achieve a lasting peace. In the connection, they highlighted the importance of close cooperation between the African Union, the UN, the EU, the Arab League and other international organizations."

  The reference to the African Union, given the Security Council having rebuffed the AU back in 2011, is particularly noteworthy.

Back on July 15, Inner City Press asked Leon what plan he may have to get the GNC to sign, and about long-time Libyan ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi's criticism in the Security Council of its Sanctions Committee.Video here.

  On the latter, Leon said that that first step is to form a unity government, THEN to listen to what it asks for. On the GNC, Leon seems to say they agree in principle, only differing on timing or sequencing. 

  The same two questions, nearly identically, were repeated by a Gulf media; an Italian journalist asked about the flow of migrants to Europe. This, Leon seized on, asking rhetorically what “we” can tell the British, whose people were killed in Tunisia by a guy reportedly trained in Libya.

  The answer again reflected Leon's at least dual allegiances or constituencies. He was the EU's envoy, then put in to replace UN enovy Tarek Mitri. Recently former IAEA El Baradei said Leon was involved in the “coup” in Egypt. (Leon said he hasn't seen that You Tube and doubts El Baradei said it.)

  The UN, after ousting Tarek Mitri as envoy in favor of Bernardino Leon, has been promoting its good works in Geneva and in the country. 

  Back on February 18, speaking before the foreign ministers of Libya (Tobruk) and Egypt, Leon again cited his own work: "given the sense of urgency, I have called for the next meeting of the political dialogue to finalize discussions initiated in Geneva on the formation of government of national unity and security arrangements to pave the way for a formal and comprehensive cessation of hostilities.”

  At the Security Council stakeout before the Jordan-requested meeting began, UK Ambassador Lyall Grant said the meeting would provide a chance to hear from Libya and Egypt; he said he hadn't yet seen the draft resolution. (Another non-Arab Permanent Representative said they HAD seen the draft.)

 After Leon, Libya's foreign minister said he is not requesting an international intervention, only wants Egypt's help.

 Egypt's Foreign Minister Shoukry, citing the killing of the US Ambassador in Benghazi, said that too little was done after the parliament was chased to Tobruk. He said he is counting on Jordan to distribute the draft resolution. Some of the Council say they have a different line of thinking. Watch this site.

At the UN Security Council's meeting on February 15 -- about Yemen -- nothing was said about ehte Egyptians in Libya. But hours later a Senior US State Department Official issued this:

"Secretary Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry today in the aftermath of the horrific video showing the murder of twenty-one Egyptians. The Secretary offered his condolences on behalf of the American people and strongly condemned the despicable act of terror.  Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Shoukry agreed to keep in close touch as Egyptians deliberated on a response."

 Bernardino Leon, as Inner City Press exclusively reported, was installed as head of UNSMIL after then-head Tarek Mitri declined to make the UN mission a mere appendage of European / UK diplomacy. Is it working?

  UNSMIL's former deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania has been moved to head UNMEER, the UN's Ebola mission. Sources in Yemen say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was the UN's “designated security official” when a UNICEF staffer was taken hostage while traveling to the Sana'a airport without the required (and needed) security detail. Some say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was distracted, in Yemen and later in Libya, by side business interests. 

  But a check of Ban Ki-moon's Public Disclosure website, where his officials are supposed to make rudimentary disclosure of the finances and outside business interests, does not even list Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (while numerous other Deputy SRSGs are listed). His is not in the most recent database, for 2013 - and may escape any disclosure by become an Under Secretary General with a mere nine month stint at UNMEER. Then what? We'll stay on this.

  When the UN Security Council met about Mali on January 6, it was Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, and not UN Peacekeeping official Herve Ladsous, who distributed his speech and came to take Press questions. (Ladsous has a policy against it, here and here.)

  Inner City Press asked Diop about the Mali talks in Algiers, and about the impact of Libya. On the latter, Diop said that “in 2012 the Mali crisis started when the war started in Libya and many Malian elements who were part of the Libyan army decided to come back home with the arms and ammunition. This started the destabilization of Mali.”

   Diop added, "In the southern part of Libya there is a group that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State.” (When asked to name the group he could not or would not.)

On Leon: To try to counter Libya's lawless power struggle, the UN engaged in one of its own. 

  And unlike most of the member states that make up the UN, and most other inter-governmental organizations, this UN does not answer questions, at least not directly.

  After Inner City Press repeated asked about it, including at the UN's noon briefings on August 11 and 13, on August 14 the UN said Bernardino Leon will take over as its Libya envoy on September 1.

  When Inner City Press asked if that is really Leon's starting day, given that he's said he'll go to Tripoli as early as next week representing the UN, Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said Leon is merely "familiarizing" himself with the work he will be, and Mitri remains in place until September 1. Really?

  Ignoring the previous questions and the power-play, wire services likeReuters merely retyped ("reported") the UN's August 14 announcement that Leon will start September 1. And now?

 Back on August 1, Inner City Press exclusively reported that UN envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri was being "pushed out" of the post, including by UK envoy to Libya Jonathan Powell, and cited his brother Lord Powell's extensive business in Libya through Magna Holdings.

  The UK mission, usually responsive, did not provide comment on written Press questions on this; at UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant's August 4 press conference Inner City Press asked about Powell's and Mitri's relationship, without direct answer, see here.

  Then the UK's Ambassador to Libya Michael Aron has announced, on Twitter no less,  that Mitri is out and Ban Ki-moon has installed a new UN envoy, former Zapatero diplomat Bernardino Leon Gross.

  The UN, at least at its August 8 noon briefing and in emails since, has not announce anything about replacing Mitri, much less by whom.

  Ban Ki-moon's office said that for August 9 and 10, "Spokesperson on call:  Mr. Farhan Haq." So Inner City Press wrote to Farhan Haq, as well as to lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Hello. Now that the UK Ambassador to Libya, and others, have announced that Ban Ki-moon has appointed Bernardino Leon to replace Tarek Mitri as Ban's representative to Libya, head of UNSMIL, this is a request on deadline - today - that your Office confirm that this appointment or nomination has been made.

Has the letter been sent to the Security Council?

Is Leon already confirmed?

If not, how it is appropriate that P5 countries are saying he already has the job?On deadline, today.

Given many of the ongoing Afghanistan leaks are about UN DSS and UNAMA, not UNDP, there will be further questions. But the above is on deadline for today. Thank you in advance.

  But more than four hours later, by "close of business" in New York, the "spokesperson on duty" had not answered, had not even acknowledged receipt of the question.

  What does it mean to be the UN's "spokesperson on duty"?

   Isn't it for Ban Ki-moon to make this announcement? In fact, in 2011 when France had already gotten its Jerome Bonnafont in place to replace its Alain Le Roy atop UN Peacekeeping, Bonnafont's bragging about it in India, where he was French Ambassador, led to Ban rescinding the "offer."

  France countered with three time loser Herve Ladsous, Inner City Press reported each step -- including Bonnafont in July 2011 being tapped for the post, and even congratulation cards to Bonnafont, here, and threats from AFP then the UN Correspondents Association -- and the rest is, well, a type of history (coverage in UK New Statesman, here).

  Ladsous refuses all Inner City Press questions, video compilation here; Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq on August 8, alluding to Ladsous and now UNDP, said it is because of "people skills." Or reporting?

  So Ban has accepted or done nothing to stop this P3 power grab to oust Mitri. But can "his" successor be pre-announced and Ban accept that too? 

Footnote: Inner City Press is exclusively informed that UNSMIL deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed also has business, literally: fisshing business. Ban and those in control of this play accept that too? Watch this site.

Background: Inner City Press on August 1 asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric what UN envoy Tarek Mitri is doing; Dujarric said he was not aware but would check.

  Inner City Press had reported that Mitri, unlike the other UN international staff who relocated to Tunis, went back to his native Lebanon. Sources in the region exclusively told Inner City Press that Mitri had been hoping for a government post in Lebanon, describing him as less than committed to remaining with the UN.

   Now we can report more. These knowledgeable sources say that Mitri is being "pushed out," mostly they say by the UK's envoy to Libya, former Tony Blair aide Jonathan Powell.

  "Mitri was expected to take on a mostly support function," one source told Inner City Press. "He stood up and said no, headquarters didn't back him up and now he's being pushed out." We'll have more on this.

  It was nine days after Libya's foreign minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz at the UN Security Council stakeout told the Press his country wanted international help to protect oil fields and ports, including airports, that the US announced it had relocated its Tripoli embassy staff out of the country to Tunisia.

  Inner City Press asked, where is UN envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri? He briefed the Security Council from Beirut -- sources tell Inner City Press he has been on vacation there, and this deputy, too, was out of the country.

  Back on July 17 when Libya's foreign minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz emerged from the UN Security Council to take questions from the media, Inner City Press asked him to be more specific about what type of “support” force he is asking for.

  Mohamed Abdel Aziz replied that the request is not for a “military” force -- but then went on to say say the force should protect oil fields and ports. If that's not military, what is it?

  Inner City Press also asked Mohamed Abdel Aziz for Libya's current position on the US arresting Abu Khatallah. Compared to the complaints of others, Mohamed Abdel Aziz said that even though under international law it is unacceptable, since Libya can't protect witnesses, maybe it is okay.

  Given the current state of affairs, what is “Libya's” position?

  Meanwhile on July 17 the UN's envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri told the Security Council -- by video from his native Lebanon, while other UN international staff are in Tunisia -- that the fighting has “cast a shadow over the election on 25 June of the 200 member Council of Representatives.” Ya don't say.

 Mitri said that barely forty percent of the 1.5 million registered Libyans went to the polls. He said 12 seats will remain vacant; 41 candidates were disqualified under the post-Gaddafi Law on Political and Administrative Isolation. Final results are supposed to be announced on July 20. Watch this site.

   

UN in Libya Confirms Its Building Shot At, Day After Inner City Press Asked UN Spokesman About It, Says UN Staff "Not Involved"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 24, more here -- With the on-again, usually off-again Libya talks seemingly off after an attack on the Central Bank in Benghazi, on January 23 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press I wanted a quick kind of a factual check which is there's reports that a UN facility in Libya has been fired out, last hour, which has been in Libyan news.  Do you have anything on that?

Spokesman Dujarric:  No.  I will check.

 But twenty hours later, nothing from Dujarric or the UN in New York. Instead, the UN Support Mission in Libya released this statement by envoy Bernardino Leon:

Statement by SRSG Bernardino Leon regarding shooting incident outside a UN office in Tripoli

24 January 2015 - At 11:30 am on 23 January 2015, unidentified gunmen opened fire from a passing car at members of the Diplomatic Police on guard duty outside the office of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tripoli, Libya.

One of the policemen was severely wounded and later died in hospital. The Diplomatic Police are investigating to determine the circumstances and the motives behind this drive by shooting.

UN staff were not involved in the incident.

The United Nations condemns this shooting incident and offers its condolences to the Diplomatic Police. The United Nations calls on the police to thoroughly investigate this incident.

  So they emphasize that "UN staff were not involved in the incident." But the UN has been targeted before. We'll have more on this. 

  And on this: earlier in the week, after Inner City Pressasked Dujarric for the fifth time about UN Peacekeepers shooting at demonstrators in Haiti, the answer was only given 24 hours later, in the noon briefing, by Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq. Inner City Press asked to be informed when answers to its questions come in. 

  Now this, on Libya. Did UNSMIL not tell the Spokesman's Office? Did the Spokesman's Office not ask? Or was the plan to withhold the information until the next noon briefing, on January 26? Why? Again, we'll have more on this.

  Leon, as Inner City Press exclusively reported, was installed as head of UNSMIL after then-head Tarek Mitri declined to make the UN mission a mere appendage of European / UK diplomacy. Is it working?

  UNSMIL's former deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania has been moved to head UNMEER, the UN's Ebola mission. Sources in Yemen say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was the UN's “designated security official” when a UNICEF staffer was taken hostage while traveling to the Sana'a airport without the required (and needed) security detail. Some say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was distracted, in Yemen and later in Libya, by side business interests. 

  But a check of Ban Ki-moon's Public Disclosure website, where his officials are supposed to make rudimentary disclosure of the finances and outside business interests, does not even list Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (while numerous other Deputy SRSGs are listed). His is not in the most recent database, for 2013 - and may escape any disclosure by become an Under Secretary General with a mere nine month stint at UNMEER. Then what? We'll stay on this.

  When the UN Security Council met about Mali on January 6, it was Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, and not UN Peacekeeping official Herve Ladsous, who distributed his speech and came to take Press questions. (Ladsous has a policy against it, here and here.)

  Inner City Press asked Diop about the Mali talks in Algiers, and about the impact of Libya. On the latter, Diop said that “in 2012 the Mali crisis started when the war started in Libya and many Malian elements who were part of the Libyan army decided to come back home with the arms and ammunition. This started the destabilization of Mali.”

   Diop added, "In the southern part of Libya there is a group that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State.” (When asked to name the group he could not or would not.)

   The Libya talks have been indefinitely postponed. A Greek ship near Derna was bombed -- Inner City Press on January 5 asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric by whom; he said the UN does not know.  The Free UN Coalition for Access has asked UN Peacekeeping why the speeches of Ladsous, unlike other UN officials, are not made available.

With Libya descending into chaos, when the UN Security Council met about the country on November 11 it was to hear from the International Criminal Court prosecutorFatou Bensouda.

  Bensouda said “the continued failure of the Government of Libya to surrender Saif A1-Islam Gaddafi to the custody of the International Criminal Court is a matter of great concern to my Office and the Court... I will assess my options, including whether to apply for a review of the judges' decision upholding Libya's request that the case against Al-Senussi be tried in Libya.”

  After her briefing, Bensouda to not hold a question and answer stakeout; Inner City Press caught up with her in the hall and asked if she had been given the entire UN "cover up" report on Darfur, or only part of it.

  Bensouda said she had gotten only the summary, and only the day before. Moments later the President of the Security Council for November, Gary Quinlan of Australia, reiterated that efforts are afoot for the Security Council to "take up" the report on Darfur.  

  Still nothing from the Security Council on the car bomb attack near envoy Bernardino Leon. The UK mentioned the attack -- and tellingly their own Jonathan Powell -- during the ICC meeting. But where is a UNSC Press Statement on the attack?

For days after a bombing in Libya near UN envoy Bernardino Leon, which came after Libya Dawn in Tripoli called him not impartial and persona non grata, still the UN in New York had not put out any statement at all.

  Instead, UN Department of Political Affairs' new spokesman merely selectively emailed to some Western media. No statement; nothing on the UNSMIL mission's web site. To new Free UN Coalition for Access, this is a new low in UN (non) communications.

 Back on November 4 when the UN Security Council met about Libya behind closed doors, the Press outside at the stakeout was repeatedly told that Leon would come and take questions at the stakeout.

 This is what the replaced Tarek Mitri did, each time he briefed the Security Council. With Leon being criticized inside Libya it would seem he'd have all the more reason to speak.

  But he did not. When he came out he barely broke stride -- Inner City Press took a photograph, blurred -- while saying the new Security Council Gary Quinlan of Australia would speak later. When Quinlan did, it was a bland "Press Elements."

  Still the scribes churned it. At 8:15 pm Agence France Presse bragged that it had "obtained" a French-drafted request to put Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi and Derna, on the Al Qaeda sanctions list. 

"A copy of the French-led request to the Al-Qaeda sanctions committee was obtained by AFP." Wonder how...

   Reuters issued a breathless report with unnamed diplomats at 8:19 pm. Both have tried to get smaller investigative Press thrown out of the UN - see documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, here andhere - and this request by Reuters to censor one of its complaints to the UN from Google's Search.

  Back on August 27 amid airstrikes in Libya, when outgoing UN envoy Tarek Mitri briefed the UN Security Council, the airstrikes weren't even mentioned in his more than six page prepared text distributed by the UN.

  Inside the Council chamber, improvising but only a little bit, Mitri mentioned the strikes, but not who did them. Back on August 19 and once again since, Inner City Press asked the UN if it knew anything about who was behind them:

Inner City Press: Who did the air strikes?  General Haftar?  What's the UN, either Mr. León or Mr. Mitri or whoever is currently in charge, what's their sense of who's doing air strikes in Tripoli?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I don't… I think we reported back with the Mission yesterday, if there's anything more I'll share it with you.

  But in the days since, the UN has said nothing. Now the Libyan Dawn group  has taken over the Tripoli airport despite the airstrikes and alleged that the strikes have the involvement of Haftar's (or Hiftar's) supporters, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. What does the UN -- or now Bernardino Leon -- know and say about that? Watch this site.

On Leon: To try to counter Libya's lawless power struggle, the UN engaged in one of its own. 

  And unlike most of the member states that make up the UN, and most other inter-governmental organizations, this UN does not answer questions, at least not directly.

  After Inner City Press repeated asked about it, including at the UN's noon briefings on August 11 and 13, on August 14 the UN said Bernardino Leon will take over as its Libya envoy on September 1.

  When Inner City Press asked if that is really Leon's starting day, given that he's said he'll go to Tripoli as early as next week representing the UN, Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said Leon is merely "familiarizing" himself with the work he will be, and Mitri remains in place until September 1. Really?

  Ignoring the previous questions and the power-play, wire services like Reuters merely retyped ("reported") the UN's August 14 announcement that Leon will start September 1. And now?

 Back on August 1, Inner City Press exclusively reportedthat UN envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri was being "pushed out" of the post, including by UK envoy to Libya Jonathan Powell, and cited his brother Lord Powell's extensive business in Libya through Magna Holdings.

  The UK mission, usually responsive, did not provide comment on written Press questions on this; at UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant's August 4 press conference Inner City Press asked about Powell's and Mitri's relationship, without direct answer, see here.

  Then the UK's Ambassador to Libya Michael Aron hasannounced, on Twitter no less,  that Mitri is out and Ban Ki-moon has installed a new UN envoy, former Zapatero diplomat Bernardino Leon Gross.

  The UN, at least at its August 8 noon briefing and in emails since, has not announce anything about replacing Mitri, much less by whom.

  Ban Ki-moon's office said that for August 9 and 10, "Spokesperson on call:  Mr. Farhan Haq." So Inner City Press wrote to Farhan Haq, as well as to lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Hello. Now that the UK Ambassador to Libya, and others, have announced that Ban Ki-moon has appointed Bernardino Leon to replace Tarek Mitri as Ban's representative to Libya, head of UNSMIL, this is a request on deadline - today - that your Office confirm that this appointment or nomination has been made.

Has the letter been sent to the Security Council?

Is Leon already confirmed?

If not, how it is appropriate that P5 countries are saying he already has the job? On deadline, today.

Given many of the ongoing Afghanistan leaks are about UN DSS and UNAMA, not UNDP, there will be further questions. But the above is on deadline for today. Thank you in advance.

  But more than four hours later, by "close of business" in New York, the "spokesperson on duty" had not answered, had not even acknowledged receipt of the question.

  What does it mean to be the UN's "spokesperson on duty"?

   Isn't it for Ban Ki-moon to make this announcement? In fact, in 2011 when France had already gotten its Jerome Bonnafont in place to replace its Alain Le Roy atop UN Peacekeeping, Bonnafont's bragging about it in India, where he was French Ambassador, led to Ban rescinding the "offer."

  France countered with three time loser Herve Ladsous, Inner City Press reported each step -- including Bonnafont in July 2011 being tapped for the post, and evencongratulation cards to Bonnafont, here, and threats from AFP then the UN Correspondents Association -- and the rest is, well, a type of history (coverage in UK New Statesman, here).

  Ladsous refuses all Inner City Press questions, video compilation here; Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq on August 8, alluding to Ladsous and now UNDP, said it is because of "people skills." Or reporting?

  So Ban has accepted or done nothing to stop this P3 power grab to oust Mitri. But can "his" successor be pre-announced and Ban accept that too? 

Footnote: Inner City Press is exclusively informed that UNSMIL deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed also has business, literally: fisshing business. Ban and those in control of this play accept that too? Watch this site.

Background: Inner City Press on August 1 asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric what UN envoy Tarek Mitri is doing; Dujarric said he was not aware but would check.

  Inner City Press had reported that Mitri, unlike the other UN international staff who relocated to Tunis, went back to his native Lebanon. Sources in the region exclusively told Inner City Press that Mitri had been hoping for a government post in Lebanon, describing him as less than committed to remaining with the UN.

   Now we can report more. These knowledgeable sources say that Mitri is being "pushed out," mostly they say by the UK's envoy to Libya, former Tony Blair aide Jonathan Powell.

  "Mitri was expected to take on a mostly support function," one source told Inner City Press. "He stood up and said no, headquarters didn't back him up and now he's being pushed out." We'll have more on this.

  It was nine days after Libya's foreign minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz at the UN Security Council stakeout told the Press his country wanted international help to protect oil fields and ports, including airports, that the US announced it had relocated its Tripoli embassy staff out of the country to Tunisia.

  Inner City Press asked, where is UN envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri? He briefed the Security Council from Beirut -- sources tell Inner City Press he has been on vacation there, and this deputy, too, was out of the country.

  Back on July 17 when Libya's foreign minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz emerged from the UN Security Council to take questions from the media, Inner City Press asked him to be more specific about what type of “support” force he is asking for.

  Mohamed Abdel Aziz replied that the request is not for a “military” force -- but then went on to say say the force should protect oil fields and ports. If that's not military, what is it?

  Inner City Press also asked Mohamed Abdel Aziz for Libya's current position on the US arresting Abu Khatallah. Compared to the complaints of others, Mohamed Abdel Aziz said that even though under international law it is unacceptable, since Libya can't protect witnesses, maybe it is okay.

  Given the current state of affairs, what is “Libya's” position?

  Meanwhile on July 17 the UN's envoy to Libya Tarek Mitri told the Security Council -- by video from his native Lebanon, while other UN international staff are in Tunisia -- that the fighting has “cast a shadow over the election on 25 June of the 200 member Council of Representatives.” Ya don't say.

 Mitri said that barely forty percent of the 1.5 million registered Libyans went to the polls. He said 12 seats will remain vacant; 41 candidates were disqualified under the post-Gaddafi Law on Political and Administrative Isolation. Final results are supposed to be announced on July 20. Watch this site.