On
Syria,
Non-Payers
Sponsored,
List of Paying
No-Shows,
Kyrgyzstan
Locked
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 17 --
"We tried to
vote but it
doesn't work,"
the Kyrgyz
representative
complained
after Thursday
vote on Syria
in
the General
Assembly. Video
here, from
Minute 53:48.
Inner
City Press
has since
learned that
Kyrgyzstan is
in arrears on
its dues to
the UN
and therefore
cannot vote;
in fact, the
UN disables
such
countries'
voting buttons
in the General
Assembly.
Comoros,
on the
other hand,
while behind
on dues had an
exemption to
vote. Still it
complained
after the
vote, "nous
avons les
memes
problemes
techniques" -
we have the
same technical
problems.
Inner
City Press
has analyzed
the list of
those who
didn't vote
Thursday on
the Syria
resolution.
While others
may not know,
Yemen is
behind on dues
and
precluded from
voting, along
for example
with Tonga,
Swaziland,
Gambia, Gabon,
the Dominican
Republic and
Dominica.
But
some who were
listed as
sponsors of
the Syria
resolution
were also
precluded from
voting due to
failure to
pay, including
Cape Verde,
Palau and the
Former
Yugoslav
Republic of
Macedonia.
There
were
countries
which were all
paid up but
nevertheless
failed to show
up
or vote,
including
Cambodia,
oil-rich
Equatorial
Guinea,
Eritrea and
Ethiopia,
Kiribati,
Laos,
Madagascar,
Mali,
Philippines,
Sierra Leone
with its UN
Mission,
Swaziland,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan
with its UN
Office and
Uzbekistan,
whose
Permanent
Representative
joked with
Inner City
Press earlier
in the week
about when the
voting might
be.
Three
states paid
up just before
the vote in
order to
participate:
Marshall
Islands,
Micronesia and
Sudan, which
told Inner
City Press
that its
arrears
were due to
some slip up
with Chase
Manhattan
Bank. Hello,
JP
Morgan.
After
the vote,
two states
favoring the
resolution
separately
spun Inner
City Press
that
those
precluded from
voting by
arrears would
have voted for
the
resolution and
raised the
tally higher.
Beyond
Kyrgyzstan's
complaint,
which several
UN insiders
told Inner
City Press was
"embarrassing,"
complaints
about not
being able to
vote
were made by
Burundi and
Comoros, which
it is true has
an exemption
to vote for
the rest of
this 66th
General
Assembly
session. Was
Comoros'
voting machine
still locked,
like
Kyrgyzstan's?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
This
supersedes a
typically wan
write-up by a
venue which
has just this
month mis-labeled
"exclusives"
on Syria,
and tried to steal a
Sri Lanka
story. The
former was
raised on
February 2
without
correction or
response; the
latter has yet
to be
addressed.
Watch this
site.
, 
