At
UN,
Drafts on MDGs Stalled on World Bank Reforms, Serb & EU
Votes, Portuguese Junkets for UNSC Seat
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 -- A handful of contentious General Assembly
resolutions and an outcome document on the Millennium Development
Goals are to be decided on in the coming days at the UN.
The
MDGs document
was to have been finalized on September 3 but could not be. It will
be taken up again on September 7. The ALBA Group of left-leaning
Latin American nations is, for example, trying to get in language
about reforming the World Bank.
Various UN
agencies are trying to
slip self serving clauses in; there is opposition to including praise
of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's maternal health programs unless
similar praise of Cuba's work in Africa is included. It is typical
UN.
A
vote
is predicted for September 9 on Serbia's resolution on the
International Court of Justice's ruling that Kosovo's declaration of
independence was no illegal. Well placed sources tell Inner City
Press that Serbia may lose the vote -- and that the European Union,
which has moved its resolution to gain special powers in the General
Assembly back to September 13, may also lose. But are the two
connected?
EU's Ashton in GA, special powers not yet shown
Meanwhile,
following
Inner City Press' report of
junkets offered by Germany and
Canada to further their candidacies for the two Western European and
Other Group seats on the Security Council, sources have come
forward
to point out that Portugal, the other candidate, has despite its
financial problems also been offering junkets.
These
are along the
river in the northern part of the country where the port wine comes
from; they are paid for out of the country's budget to promote
tourism. Click here
for Inner City Press' Labor Day report
on
Equatorial Guinea's desire to join the Community of Portuguese
Language Countries, blocked by Angola. Sources describe luxury
housing developments on the outskirts of Lisbon where up to one third
of the units are sold to those with oil money spirited out of Angola.
And so it goes.
* * *
For
UNSC
Seats,
Canada & Germany Offer Junkets, Colombia Opposed by
Chavez & Alba Group? India In, Zuma MIA?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September
2 -- To choose the five new non permanent members
of the UN Security Council, one contest is known, another only
rumored.
India
and
South
Africa are running unopposed, even though the latter's president
Jacob Zuma is now not coming to the UN General Debate in late
September. Colombia still maintains it's unopposed, but sources say
that the endorsement of the regional group GRULAC is by no means
assured, due to opposition from Venezuela and members of the ALBA
group.
Inner
City
Press
asked Venezuela's Ambassador Valero about the controversy on the
evening of September 1. He acknowledged GRULAC support was being
withheld, but said this might change if relations with new Colombian
president Santos continued to improve.
Secretary
General
Ban
Ki-moon's appointment of Alvaro Urbibe to his panel of the
assault on the Gaza flotilla continues to chafe the Grupo Alba.
Venezuela is slated to head the Group of 77 and China in the coming
year, and will act on that appointment at that time.
Skeptical
observers link Ban's Uribe appointment not only to a desire to please
the U.S. and Israel, but also Colombia, as it would have a vote on
Ban's second term. Ban's backtrack on Kashmir is also seen in this
light.
The
competition
between Germany, Canada and Portugal for the two Western Europe and
Other Group (WEOG) seats is heating up, with attempts to buy votes. The
Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
complained to Inner City Press about Canada flying five African
Ambassadors north last weekend, and said he was not going.
Last
month
outside
the General Assembly's session on the floods in Pakistan,
Inner City Press asked Canada's foreign minister Lawrence Cannon how
the campaign was
going. Good, good, he said with a smile.
On
the evening of
August 30, simultaneous with Russia's End of Security Council
Presidency party uptown, Germany held a reception in the UN's North
Lawn building, promoting its funding of African border demarcations.
Sources
told
Inner
City Press that Germany behind the scenes was topping Canada by
inviting African and other developing world Ambassadors for a
European junket.
Inner City
Press asked the German mission to “please
confirm or deny that Germany recently invited a number of developing
world diplomats and their spouses to Germany. Please state how many
diplomats and spouses were invited, including how many from Africa
and from which countries, to where, and why. Please comment on the
relation between these invitations and Germany's run for a Security
Council seat 2011-12.”
Six
hours later
Inner City Press received a response from the German mission to
the UN, below.
UN's Ban & Angela Merkel, Gästeprogramm
not
shown
Subject:
Re:
press
questions
From: .NEWYVN POL-2-6 Eberl, Alexander
To:
"Matthew R. Lee" Inner City Press
Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2010
at 6:49 PM
Dear
Mr.
Lee,
thank you for your mail... Within the framework of the
so-called “Gästeprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”
(Visitors Programm of the Federal Republic of Germany) the Federal
Government and the German Bundestag jointly and regularly invite
different groups of foreign personalities to Germany.
This
well-established
programme
stretches back to the early years of the
Federal Republic and has through time covered a wide variety of
countries and topics. It is aimed at foreign personalities with an
accentuated role in their country, be it in politics, society or
culture – or journalism. The programme intends to foster the
dialogue between Germany and other countries, societies and cultures.
Please note, that spouses are not invited or covered by the
programme.
Various
groups
–
among them this year all in all around fifty diplomats
from developing countries based in New York – were invited to
Germany. They held fruitful meetings and talks both in Berlin as well
as in other German places.
The
aim
of
the Visitors Programme has always been to make insights
available and thereby improve the understanding of Germany. It goes
without saying that Germany – as a keen multilateralist – has an
interest to provide decision-makers with opportunities of firsthand
information.
Best
regards,
Alexander
Eberl,
Press
& Public Relations
Permanent Mission of Germany
to the United Nations
Can
Portugal, given
its financial problems, keep up? Should UN Security Council seats be
for sale? Watch this site.
* * *
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