Thread by @althecat

Kenya took over Presidency of the UNSC for October on Friday. A media/officials briefing was held yesterday at the UN HQ in New York yesterday with the Permanent Representative and the Kenya's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo.
WATCH HERE >> media.un.org/en/asset/k1e/k…

This briefing his held each month when the Presidency rotates. The program of work for the month is the subject of the briefing which can be found here >> un.org/securitycounci…

The detailed briefing is by Kenya's Permanent Representative Martin Kimani who participated in the Tigray crisis meeting held on August 26th.

The program includes 2 meetings to be chaired by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the 12th (Peace) and 28th of Oct. (Cooperation).

The meeting on Oct 28th chaired by President Kenyatta will be held in collaboration with the African Union, and will discuss ways for the UN to cooperate with the AU.

The month will also see a UNSC visit to the Sahel beginning of the 22nd of October visiting Mali and Niger, where it will "touch reality" in person.

The Q&A begins 22 minutes in with three questioners asking about the expulsion of seven UN officials from Ethiopia, including @AJEnglish and @PamelaFalk from CBS news.

Martin Kimani( @KenyaMissionUN) as UNSC President answered the questions. And began by informing the media that in addition to the program there are two "any other business" items on the Agenda, DPRK (North Korean missile launches) and Ethiopia (Expulsions).

There was no outcome on the "Any Other Business" items from the consultation.

Both matters are continuing matters of concern. A number of members expressed very strong concerns about both matters. We are expecting as a Kenya delegation to participate in negotiations.

"We are happy to consider balanced text on both issues. We said (as Kenya) that it was important to keep humanitarian workers safe and to depoliticise the humanitarian space." - Martin Kimani as @KenyaMissionUN.

Kenyan UNSC PR Kimani noted the UNSC was monitoring the situation, specifically mentioning the @mfaethiopia twitter account - presumably meaning these three tweets so far.

"The Kenyan Govt. is not considering qs about "pariah state" or what the response of Ethiopia Govt. is (a question asked by @AJEnglish) we are considering all communications, and trying to be responsive to situation as it evolves and hoping that will be in a positive direction."

PR Kimani continued: "On the outcome of the discussion as a delegation we want to see the text and consider it, but we are going to do that with the context of the A3+1 which has had a united position on the difficulties Ethiopia is going through..."

"... And I think if you go back to the statement of the A3+1, last statement, you shall find in that statement a great deal of relevant responses to some of the concerns that are reflected in your questions."

Legendary UN reporter Edith Lederer followed up asking whether this means that there are draft press releases being actively discussed.

[NOTE: Several attempts to come up with draft press releases about Tigray have failed to be agreed upon this year.]

"And could you directly address whether the council directly addressed the letter sent to it by the Secretary General informing members that the UN considers the expulsions illegal because the 'Persona Non Grata' principle applies to states but not the UN?" - @EdithLedererAP

A second curly question was asked by Evelyn Leopold, directed at the Cabinet Secretary, asking about the state of the Kenyan relationship with Somalia, and about Somalian refugee camps in Kenya.

The 2nd question from @evjournalist was answered first by Kenyan Cabinet Sec. of Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo.

She did not address the issue of the Kenyan-Somalia relationship [Note that Kenya has just conducted more air-strikes in Somalia] but did address refugees.

Raychelle Omamo spoke of the tragedy for people stuck in refugee camps for lengthy periods and the need to think broadly. "There are too many human beings living in refugee camps indefinitely without hope. We need a fresh look at the challenges of those who are vulnerable."

PR @AmbMKimani replied on the question from @EdithLedererAP.
"We are hoping to see the language. Nothing has advanced which has enough consensus to go to silence."

@AmbMKimani @EdithLedererAP Kimani said the matters under discussion regarding Ethiopia in the consultation addressed by USG/ERC @UNReliefChief were those raised in the letter from the UNSG concerning the question of the "Persona Non Grata" principle's application.

The meeting then closed. Notably there was no indication on whether there would be a UNSC meeting on the Ethiopia issue this month, beyond the closed door consultations. At this stage it it seems not.

Given the shaky ground that the UN is on in this area (as discussed extensively in twitter) I cannot see that going anywhere in terms of a statement. But we will see in due course.

Here is @EdithLedererAP's initial report on this for AP. At this stage she has not posted a follow up based on the briefing its seems. kion546.com/news/ap-nation…

@EdithLedererAP From what I can see @evjournalist has not yet filed on the subject of her question either. She is on to an interesting angle given both recent airstrikes by Kenya on Somalia's Gedo Regio , and the impending important ICJ decision on maritime boundaries between Kenya and Somalia.

/ENDS

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