At
UNSC, South
Korea In But
Rwanda Still
Excluded, No
DRC
Response,
Nordic Diss
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 12 --
Since five new
Security
Council
members were
elected on
October 18, at
least one of
them has been
going in and
out
of Council
consultations.
It
has not been
the new member
which has been
whispered
about in the
Council --
Rwanda -- nor
the one that
sent its
foreign
minister to
seek Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's good
offices on a
dispute
(Argentina,
about Ghana's
seizure of its
frigate).
Rather
it has been
South Korea,
not for the
reason some
thought, but
because
it will take
up the
Council's
presidency
earliest in
2013 and
therefore is
receive more
or earlier
access to how
the Council
works.
So
Rwanda was not
allowed to
attend the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
sanctions
committee
meeting in
Conference
Room 7 of the
UN's North
Lawn building
on Monday.
That's one
thing. But
Inner City
Press has
been told that
Rwanda's
letters to the
sanctions
committee have
not
been responded
to.
That should
happen,
whether or not
Rwanda had won
a seat on the
Council
starting on
January 1.
That is has
won such a
seat should
change DRC
Sanctions
dynamics, from
January 1 at
the
latest.
The
five new
Council member
go on the
so-called
Finnish
retreat later
this week, and
after that all
five can
attend
consultations.
Finland's
sponsorship of
this event
continues,
even after
they lost
their race
against
Australia and
Luxembourg on
October 18.
Now
that Sweden
has lost, too,
for the Human
Rights
Council, a
well
placed UN
source tells
Inner City
Press that
"something is
wrong
with goodwill
of the
northern group
-- after all
they act as a
group
and should
have an
advantage on
other
candidates not
a
disadvantage.
It seems they
have to change
the way they
interact with
other UNMS
and
drastically
since
fundamentally
something is
very wrong."
That seems
harsh --
Norway, as
simply one
example, has
drawn kudos
for its
committee work
on Palestine.
There are
other
examples, so
we'll see --
watch this
site.
, 
