S.
Africa's Month
from Sudan to
Syria, Missing
Annex &
Robben
Island, AU
Vote
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 30 --
As South
Africa's month
as Security
Council
president
ends, it had
hoped to
simultaneously
nail down the
chair of
the African
Union. But
while Gabon's
Jean Ping
didn't win a
second
term, nor did
South Africa's
Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma
win.
Outgoing
Council
president Baso
Sangqu told
Inner City
Press that
after this
"no confidence
vote," Ping
must step
down. But will
Dlamini-Zuma
run again in
summer? Sangqu
said at day's
end that she
would be
"eligible" to
run, not that
she would.
South
Africa's
month atop the
Council began
with the UN in
South Sudan
failing to
get "lethal
assets to
dissuade"
attacks to
Pibor, where
an
untold number
of Murle
people were
killed.
But Sudan
quickly became
overshadowed
by Syria, to
the extent
that by
month's end
when US
Ambassador
Susan Rice did
a stakeout
after the
South Sudan
meeting,
she took
questions only
on Syria.
As
president of
the Council,
South Africa
had to play an
administrative
role. So, for
example, when
the Arab
League letter
came in asking
for a meeting
with the
Council after
the annexes
attached to
the letter
were
reviewed, it
was Sangqu who
asked, where
are the
annexes?
Eventually
they
came in: click
here to view
the English
translation of
the Arab
League's
monitoring
report. By the
time Inner
City Press
obtained
this and put
it online, the
observer
mission was
pulled out,
after
Arab League
Secretary
General Nabil
Al Arabi
called some --
but
reportedly not
all -- Arab
League
ministers.
The
month went by
without any
move to a vote
on Palestine's
application
for UN
membership;
there was,
however, a
briefing on
the
humanitarian
impacts of
Israel's
settlements,
with rockets
from Gaza in
the mix as
well.
There was a
day long
Middle East
public debate,
with more
Syria
than usual. As
Syria's
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari spoke
about Nelson
Mandela, he
didn't note
that the
meeting was
chaired by
South African
Deputy Foreign
Minister
Ibrahim
Ibrahim, who
spent time
with Mandela
in prison on
Robben Island
-- as Jacob
Zuma's cell
mate.
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
& Nambiar,
Zuma and
Sangqu,
Ja'afari not
shown
Another
from this
group, Nicolas
Haysom, was
slated for the
UN's
Afghanistan
deputy
envoy post,
rather than
the top spot
in Lebanon
which went to
the
Brit Plumley.
Just
as December
witnessed the
death of North
Korea's Kim
Jong Il,
January saw
Guinea
Bissau's head
of state pass
away in Paris.
When Sangqu's
Deputy
Doctor
Mashabane held
a stakeout,
Inner City
Press asked if
he'd get
a minute of
silence, and
about the AU
through Jean
Ping trying to
address
instability.
Mashabane said
South Africa
would go to
Guinea
Bissau too; he
correctly
referred Inner
City Press to
the GA, where
the minute of
silence was
belatedly held
on January 25.
South
Africa's
main thematic
debate was,
not
surprisingly,
about the
African Union.
It started
late after
some fighting
about the
speakers'
order;
President
Jacob Zuma
came and
spoke.
Afterward
Inner City
Press asked
Zuma about the
fallout from
the Council's
and NATO's
actions in
Cote
d'Ivoire and
Libya. He said
the problems
are being
worked around,
just as his
foreign
minister Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane
had told Inner
City Press the
day before.
But are they?
Watch this
site.
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