In
UN
Budget Vote,
R2P Denounced
by Cuba 4,
Sudan, Echoed
by Liberia
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 24 --
The concept of
the
Responsibility
to Protect
gave rise to
the first
contested vote
in this year's
UN budget
fight,
after an all
night session
extending into
Christmas Eve.
Cuba
presented an
amendment
against
including
references to
R2P in the UN
Office for
the Prevention
of Genocide,
on behalf of
itself,
Venezuela,
Nicaragua
and Iran.
Sudan also
spoke up in
favor. When
Poland spoke
against
the amendment,
on behalf of
the European
Union, Cuba
made a point
of
order, that it
wasn't yet
time for
General
Statements.
Budget
Committee
chairman Tommo
Monthe
overrode
Cuba's
objection,
allowed
Poland's
speech and
then called
the vote. The
anti R2P
amendment
lost, 11 in
favor, 71
against and 42
abstaining.
The anti R2P
11 included
Syria
and, to the
surprise of
some, Liberia,
a major US
ally.
Did
Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf
approve of
this vote?
What would or
will US
Ambassador
Susan
Rice say? (As
note, the US
Mission to the
UN's
Ambassador for
Management and
Reform Joe
Torsella was
not present
during the
Fifth
Committee's
voting, which
he'd earlier
pushed to
televise for
the
sake of
transparency.)
Cuba
explained
that it is
against
genocide, but
R2P has yet to
be accepted by
the
member states.
Tunisia --
post Ben Ali
-- echoed
this, saying
that it
remains
controversial
and should
have been
considered in
the Sixth
(Legal)
Committee.
In
Budget vote,
Ban Ki-moon's
Kim Won-soo
shows up -
where's Ban?
(c) MRLee
Then
on the
resolution as
a whole, only
seven voted
against, and
only eight
abstained,
including
Yemen -- even
"after" Ali
Saleh --
Zambia,
Indonesia and
Sri Lanka.
Inner City
Press
witnessed the
representative
of Sri Lanka
sleeping
through much
of the
meeting,
during which a
representative
of Sudan a
mere two seats
away gave two
speeches. And
so it goes at
the UN.
, 
