At
UN,
Jordan Takes
Saudi UNSC Seat,
Dodges
Dysfunction,
Mandela
Silence
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 6 --
That Jordan on
Friday would
get the UN
Security
Council seat Saudi Arabia
rejected
was a foregone
conclusion. It
remained to be
seen by how
many votes it
would win the
uncontested
election, and
what Jordanian
foreign
minister
Nasser
Judeh would
say afterward.
Of
the UN's 193
member states,
185 showed up
and voted. Two
were
"invalid," and
four
abstained. Of
the rest,
Jordan got 178
votes and
Saudi Arabia
got one.
When
Judeh came to
the penned-in
stakeout after
the vote,
Inner City
Press
asked him:
Saudi Arabia
rejected the
seat saying
the Security
Council
is
dysfunctional
on Syria, a
nuclear free
Middle East,
and the
question of
Palestine (and
Israel). Does
Jordan think
the Council IS
functional?
And what does
it intend to
do on those
three issues?
Judeh
said Saudi
Arabia
declined the
seat for its
own sovereign
reasons,
"which we
respect." He
then said
Jordan on the
Council will
work with its
"allies" to
advance the
principles of
the UN.
Then he left.
Jordan's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Prince Zeid
was there; he
has done
nitty gritty
work at the UN
on trying to
limit abuse
among UN
Peacekeepers,
and to stop a
military
figure from
Sri Lanka
accused of
war crimes
from serving
with Zeid on
the Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
While
the votes were
counted, both
Judeh and Zeid
greeted Riyad
Mansour of
the Observer
State of
Palestine
and other
diplomats;
Inner City
Press
from a
table-less
media booth
took photos,
tweeting some,
including
of Judeh
greeted by
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari,
here.
Before
the vote,
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe announced
a
minute of
silence for
the death (and
life) of
Nelson
Mandela. A
screen at the
front of the
room showed
Mandela's
picture on the
front
page of
today's Wall
Street
Journal.
By
contrast, the
French bank BNP
Parisbas sent
a note to
clients that
Mandela's
death would
not be a "long
term driver"
of the
markets. The
International
Criminal Court
put out a
statement --
it
wasn't clear
if by its
judges, or
prosecutor, or
spokesperson
-- as
did the IMF's
Christine
Lagarde.
PGA
Ashe said
there will be
a separate
General
Assembly
session on
honor
of Mandela.
Ashe this week
postponed a
previously
scheduled
Inter
Governmental
Negotiation on
Security
Council reform
from December
5
to December
12.
Inner
City Press is
exclusively informed
this is due to
a split in
Ashe's six
member
Advisory Group
(Liechtenstein,
Belgium, San
Marino,
Brazil, Sierra
Leone and
Papua New
Guinea). There
is a GA
"Advisory
Group"
meeting
scheduled for
the UN's
basement at
4:30 pm today.
But Jordan
will be
joining an
UNreformed
Council. Watch
this site.
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