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DE RUCNDT #0218/01 0642203
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 052203Z MAR 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6010
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000218 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC OSCE
SUBJECT: OSCE: CHAIRWOMAN-IN-OFFICE BRIEFS SECURITY COUNCIL 
ON GREEK PRIORITIES 
 
¶1. SUMMARY. Greek Foreign Minister and OSCE 
Chairperson-in-Office, Dora Bakoyannis, briefed the UN 
Security Council on February 27 on Greece's priorities for 
the OSCE. She called for a continued OSCE presence in Georgia 
as well as border security and policing projects in Central 
Asia and Afghanistan. She expressed willingness to facilitate 
a security dialogue among OSCE members based on proposals 
submitted by Russian President Medvedev. Ambassador DiCarlo 
called for a bolstering of military monitoring strength in 
South Ossetia, Georgia. Russian Permrep (PR) Churkin 
acknowledged the importance of the OSCE as a regional 
organization, but emphasized the primacy of the Security 
Council for maintaining international peace and security. He 
alleged that the OSCE in Georgia had failed to fulfill its 
role by not preventing or predicting the actions of Georgia 
leading to the August 2008 conflict. Libyan Deputy Permrep 
Dabbashi, supported by Ugandan DPR Butagira, accused the 
Council of using a double standard with regional 
organizations who wish to speak before the Security Council. 
French PR Ripert chastised the Libyan for using a public 
Council meeting to express an opinion he had not raised 
during the Council's prior consultations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (CiO), Greek Minister of 
Foreign Affairs Dora Bakoyannis, briefed the Security Council 
on February 27 about Greek priorities for the OSCE. Her first 
priority, she said, is to strengthen the OSCE in the field, 
including in Georgia, Kosovo and Central Asia. The CiO said 
the OSCE should do more, not less in Georgia. She said she 
would continue to play an active role, acting as an honest 
broker, in discussions over retaining an OSCE mission in 
Georgia, as well as in the Geneva-based discussions on 
security and stability. She highlighted the humanitarian work 
of the OSCE in Georgia, which included resolving the 
disruption of gas deliveries in South Ossetia. The Greek 
Chairmanship, she said, also plans to improve border security 
and policing projects in Central Asia, including Afghanistan. 
She listed other priorities of the Greek Chairmanship as 
promoting OSCE roles in counterterrorism, migration issues, 
climate change, and strengthening the rule of law. She ended 
by stating that the OSCE was designed to be an inclusive 
forum for political and security dialogue, and as CiO, she 
would be willing to facilitate future discussions about 
European security. 
 
¶3. Following the CiO's presentation, other Council members 
made statements.  Ambassador DiCarlo spoke of the OSCE's role 
in promoting peaceful resolution to conflicts in Southeastern 
Europe and the Caucasus. She welcomed efforts to broaden 
cooperation between the UN and OSCE in Central Asia, such as 
through border management projects and elections assistance 
for Afghanistan. In Georgia, she underscored the need to 
bolster the mission with additional military monitors in 
South Ossetia and urged the Geneva co-chairs to call for 
another round of talks on security issues in March or April 
¶2009. 
 
¶4. Other OSCE members of the Security Council - United 
Kingdom, France, Turkey, Austria and Croatia - welcomed the 
CiO's approach to Georgia, Kosovo, and Central Asia. U.K. 
Permrep Sawers and French Permrep Ripert both said they were 
open to discussing Russian ideas for a review of the European 
security architecture.  Sawers said the U.K. was looking for 
more analysis of the issue and wondered whether a new treaty 
was really necessary.  Ripert said France would support the 
OSCE CiO in pursuing a high-level dialogue.  Turkey stated 
that it was the OSCE's duty to make the treaty on 
Conventional Forces in Europe relevant. 
 
¶5. Russian Permrep Churkin acknowledged the importance of the 
OSCE as a regional organization, but emphasized that the 
Security Council has the primary role for maintaining 
international peace and security.  He said, that the OSCE in 
Georgia was a poor example of UN-OSCE cooperation, as the 
OSCE had failed to fulfill its responsibility to prevent or 
predict the actions of Georgia leading to the August 2008 
conflict, by withholding reports of the Georgian military 
buildup from member states. He said the mandate of the OSCE 
Mission in Georgia was not in line with the "new political 
realities" in the region. He said Russia would support an 
extension of OSCE's field work in Georgia and South Ossetia, 
but that there needed to be two separate missions. He also 
said that the extension of observers needed to be in 
accordance with the "Medvedev-Sarkozy" agreement. Churkin 
said the situation in the Caucasus demonstrated the 
shortcomings of the current Euro-Atlantic security structure, 
and said he would expect close OSCE cooperation in discussing 
Russia's comprehensive security initiative. 
 
¶6. Libyan Deputy Permrep Dabbashi, supported by Ugandan DPR 
Butagira, accused the Council of "discrimination" and of 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000218  002 OF 002 
 
 
"adopting a double standard" with regional organizations who 
wish to speak before the Security Council. He pointed out 
that the OSCE CiO had been invited, for the second time in 
four months to brief the Council, while at the same time, he 
said, the Council had rejected requests from the Arab League 
and the African Union to brief the Council. Dabbashi said he 
hoped the Council would in the future apply the same standard 
to all regional organizations. 
 
¶7. French PR Ripert responded by calling Dabbashi's comments, 
"puzzling". Ripert pointed out that the decision to hear the 
OSCE CiO had been a unanimous one, so the perceived slight 
would therefore have to be a "unanimous double standard". He 
chastised the Libyan for raising the issue in a public forum 
but not during the Council's prior consultations. He also 
pointed out that during the numerous debates on the Gaza 
crisis during France's January SC Presidency, neither the 
African Union nor the Arab League had been refused their 
requests to participate in any of the Council's meetings. 
Ripert called for the Secretariat to produce statistics about 
how many times various regional organizations have addressed 
the Council. 
 
¶8. Russian Permrep Churkin said he thought the exchange of 
views over invitations to regional organizations demonstrated 
that the Council needed to "fine-tune" its relationship with 
regional organizations, and he suggested that Russia might 
raise the question as a thematic issue during its May 
Security Council presidency. 
Rice