Tuesday, February 22, 2011

As Gadhafi Friend Will Brief UN Council, UK Draft Quotes Anti-Colonel Deputy

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 22 -- In the run up to the UN Security Council's closed 3 pm meeting on Libya, the UK is preparing a draft Press Statement, using the name of Ibrahim Al Dabbashi, who denounced Colonel Moammar Gadhafi in a Monday press conference in Libya's Mission to the UN.

Meanwhile, Dabbashi's “superior” at the Libyan Mission, Libya's Permanent Representative Abdel-Rahman Shalgam, has sent an e-mail to the Security Council re-asserting his control., sources told Inner City Press.

Later, the Brazilian President of the Council told the Press that it is Perm Rep Shalgam who will be speaking.

What then of the UK drafted Press Statement?


UN's Ban & Gaddafi: UN Goodwill Ambassador Aicha not shown

At the day's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm that Aicha Gadhafi, the Colonel's daughter, is a UN system Goodwill Ambassador.

Nesirky, who had not responded to the written question submitted on the morning of February 20, now said that he “understands” that Aicha is a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in Libya. He would not answer what Ban thinks of or will do about this.

Inner City Press asked Nesirky if the UN is aware of reports, including on Ghanaweb, that Gadhafi is soliciting mercenaries in Ghana, Nigeria and Guinea, or if the UN is looking into this. No and no, Nesirky said.

Meanwhile, with Ban Ki-moon away in Hollywood, Deputy Secretary General Asha Rose Migiro is meeting today with Leslie K. Christian, Ghana's outgoing ambassador to the UN. Maybe she'll ask him about mercenary recruitment in Ghana - or about Ghana's position, different from Ban's, on Cote d'Ivoire. Watch this site.

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