Morocco
Goes for 2012 UNSC
Seat
over Mauritania of AU
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 10 -- With the UN Security Council members slated to
meet with the African Union later this month in Addis Ababa, there
are questions about the African Union's role in the process of
selecting the Council's non-permanent members.
Morocco,
which
largely due to Western Sahara and the African Union position that a
referendum with independence must be held there is not an AU member,
is a candidate to for a Council seat for 2012 - 2013.
In
the African
Union, which usually makes recommendations for empty African seats on
the Council, Mauritania would be next in line. AU sources have told
Inner City Press that the Mauritania may pass up this right, they
say, upon the pressure of its neighborhood Morocco.
Inner
City Press
on Tuesday asked Moroccan Permanent Representative to the UN
Loulichki about the situation, including Mauritania being “due”
to be the next African Union nominee for the empty seat.
“Every
member
state has a right to run for the Security Council,” Loulichki
replied, adding even more formally that “Morocco is a candidate for
2012 - 2013.”
In apparent
reference to coverage by Inner City Press
earlier
this year of his lobbying of Ban Ki-moon, Loulichki said, quote me
on this, making a gesture with
his hands. There: we've done it.
Loulichki and Ban:
Security Council seat still not shown
During
the
negotiation of the Security Council's annual Western Sahara
resolution, the African Union position that a sentence “without
prejudice to the legal status of Western Sahara” should be added
was rebuffed by the Council.
The
rebuff was
particularly stinging given the belief that the absence of this
qualification from the draft resolution was a mere oversight by the
Group of Friends of Western Sahara -- an oversight they then refused
to fix.
If
the African
Union now “backs down” to Morocco, as one source put it, what
would the message be? Watch this site.
Footnote:
in
Tuesday's debate in the Security Council, Moroccan Permanent
Representative Loulichki said without any trace of irony that more
resources should be given to UN Peacekeeping missions which have
protection of civilians in their mandates -- not, it is clear,
referring to the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara.
Meanwhile
it is
reported that Kuwait
will step in to run for the Asia Group seat on
the UN Human Rights Council for which Syria had initially been
running unopposed. But even if that's true, will Syria be promised
some other UN system seat, like Iran was given a seat on the
Commission on the Status of Women? We'll see.
* * *
At
UN,
President
of GA Deiss Has No Comment on Syria's Run for Human Rights
Council, Sha Zukang on Ban's Budget Cuts
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
9 -- When the UN General Assembly voted on March 1 to
suspend Libya from the Human Rights Council, GA “President Joseph
Deiss agreed, emphasizing the importance of a strong Human Rights
Council whose members were committed to strengthening the protection
and promotion of fundamental rights — including by upholding the
highest standards and by 'proscribing double standards.'”
But
when in the
run up to the May 20 vote for new Human Rights Council members, with
Syria so far running without formal opposition for a seat, Inner City
Press asked Deiss' spokesman for his view, he said that Deiss will
have no comment until after the member states have spoken.
So
while Deiss
after the fact “agreed” with member states suspending Libya (and
before that, stripping the UN credentials Cote d'Ivoire / Laurent
Gbagbo Permanent Representative Djedje), in this case he claims he
cannot or will not speak in advance.
This
seems
to some
to be the very “double standards” decried by Deiss, or to reflect
that he waits to see which side wins, then he “agrees.”
Beyond
seeking
Deiss'
view, Inner City Press asked the PGA spokesman to describe the
process on and before May 20: how are write-in candidates considered,
when will it be known if another candidate will formally contest the
seat with Syria? These questions were not answered.
There
are
routine
complaints that the General Assembly, the so-called G-192, doesn't
get enough press coverage. But when its own President takes no
position, and his Office holds back from providing even logistical
information, is it any wonder?
Likewise,
at
another
UN press conference Monday morning about the Commission on
Sustainable Development, Inner City Press asked CSD chair
László
Borbélyn and Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General of the
Department
of Economic and Social Affairs why nearly all of the sessions of the
CSD in New York last week were “closed.”
The
response was
that while the press is excluded, otherwise representation is very
diverse. Reference was made to “civil society.” If other than
member states are allowed in, why not the press? Is sustainability so
secret?
Apparently
so:
Inner
City Press asked Sha Zukang about a company he praised in a
speech, Suntech, now bragging about a $180 million contract with UN
Peacekeeping. Mr. Sha said to ask Department of Management chief
Angela Kane or “Mr. Choi.” But which one? The head of Information
and Communications Technology or Ban Ki-moon's close ally Choi
Young-jin, currently at the UN Mission in Ivory Coast but soon, some
say, to leave?
Footnote:
Mr.
Sha
remains, however, a refreshingly independent thinker in the
UN system. Inner City Press asked him about Ban Ki-moon' proposed
budget cuts, and while saying as UNDER Secretary General he must
implement them, he said they are difficult, will involve cutting
staff, and one can only go so far. Watch this site.
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