In
UNSC
Race, Canada Blames Ignatieff for Loss, S. Africa
Favors Deferral for Bashir
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 12 -- After Canada withdrew for the Security
Council
seat competition it spent time and money on, Foreign Minister
blamed
the flame out on opposition leader Michael Ignatieff's statements.
But in Inner City Press' reporting, no one had mentioned Ignatieff.
Rather,
they spoke
about Canada's defunding of UNRWA and, in Africa, its temporarily
blocking of debt relief for the Democratic Republic of Congo in order
to gain leverage for one of its mining companies in the DRC.
When
Cannon went
forward with his press conference scheduled for 1:15 on Tuesday, less
than an hour after withdrawal, Inner City Press asked him to respond
on UNRWA and the blocking of debt relief to the Congo, since he'd
repeatedly said Canada would still to its “principled” foreign
policy.
Cannon
claimed
that the UNRWA issues have been resolved, and that no one had raised
the Congo issues to him. Apparently he never spoke to any DRC
diplomats.
Cannon walked
out of his press conference after that
question, with a question about mistreatment of Tamils ringing in his
ears.
Ignatieff, UNRWA, DRC and UNSC loss not shown
Back
in front of
the General Assembly, Inner City Press asked South Africa's Foreign
Minister if on Sudan her country will promote the African Union line
that the indictments of Omar al Bashir by the International Criminal
Court should be deferred for at least one year.
Yes,
she said,
that is our position. (India's Hardeep Singh Puri declined to state
India's position, while telling Inner City Press that he knew
Pakistan voted for India.) Inner City Press then asked UK Ambassador
Mark Lyall Grant, who was in charge of the Darfur leg of the
Council's trip to Sudan, what he thought of South Africa's position
on Bashir. He answered that any resolution -- i.e. one to defer the
indictments -- would require votes on the Council (on which the US,
UK and France each have vetoes).
Inner
City Press
said, can I ask you another question about Darfur? But Lyall Grant
walked off.
Footnote:
India's
Hardeep Singh Puri said that he knew that Pakistan had voted
for India -- apparently, the ballot paper was shown -- and so the
lone vote for Pakistan must have come from somewhere else. The same
for Swaziland. But what explains the fall off in Canada's vote from
first to second round? This reflects “capitals” controlling the
first round vote, while New York based Permanent Representative have
more freedom on the second and subsequent rounds. So Canada dropped
out.
* * *
At
UN,
Canada and Portugal in Second Round Slugfest for Council Seat,
Germany Squeaks In
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 12 -- Neither Canada nor Portugal made it
onto the
UN Security Council on the first ballot on Tuesday. In the Western
European and Other states Group, 127 votes were needed to get a seat.
Germany, despite all it spent, barely made it with 128. Portugal just
missed with 122, with Canada in third place with 114. A second round
was called for.
In
the run up to
the vote, numerous Ambassadors told Inner City Press that while they
didn't like Canada's current policies, they also didn't want to see
two more Europeans on the Council. There was a mood of “anything
but two more Europeans” which seemed to favor Canada. But not
enough.
India
got the most
votes with 187 -- Pakistan got one vote, which most feel came from
Pakistan itself. Similarly, South Africa got 182 votes, with one for
(and by?) Swaliland. Colombia got 186 votes.
Now,
Portugal's
Permanent Representative with his omnipresent bow tie is working the
crowd. Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign minister, may have to delay
or even cancel his press conference. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Will “Right Wing” Canada Sweep in Because 4 Europeans on
Council Are Too Many?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 11 -- The battle
for UN Security Council seats
between Germany, Portugal and Canada reached its final stage on
Monday night, with the Ambassadors of all three countries chatting up
different parts of the crowd at South Africa's de facto
victory party.
South
Africa,
India and Colombia are running unopposed, though Colombia does not
have the endorsement of its regional group. But for the Western
European and Other States Group, there are only two seats for the
three above named candidates.
Each has
taken Ambassadors, notably
from Africa, on junket like vacations. But it is a secret ballot and
few on Monday night would predict the outcome.
What
were offered
instead were theories. Canada's theory is that developing countries
won't want two more European countries on the Council to join the UK
and France.
Others point
to Portugal's more progressive politics --
it's “almost a developing country,” one G-77 member told Inner
City Press, seeming to refer to politics rather than Portugal's
battered economy.
A
well place
Ambassador told Inner City Press that this WEOG election will show to
where it is more important to direct advocacy, a country's Mission to
the UN in New York, or foreign minister back in the capital.
Monday
at noon, Ion
Botnaru of the Department of General Assembly and Conference
Management briefed the press about the rules of procedures for
Tuesday's vote. He said that the African and Asian Groups had a
formal agreement that of each two vacancies, one should go to each
continent.
Inner
City Press
asked Botnaru about Canada's theory that there is an unwritten rule
that in WEOG, only one seat goes to Europe, the other, to Other.
Botnaru said he's aware of no rule to that effect. But still the
pitch is made.
Ironically,
left leaning Portugal may pay for the
arrogance of the EU's campaign for special speaking rights, and
Sweden's drive-by attack on ten countries' human rights records
during the General Debate.
Cannon at UN, Richard Butler not shown
A
reporter trashed
Germany for excluding the media from its reception on Monday night,
unlike South African. Current Swiss President of the GA Joseph Deiss
was seen heading to the Germany reception at 6:30, but he never
showed up at the South Africans.
Whatever
happens in
the Western European and Other states Group, with the election India
and South Africa to join Brazil on the Council, major powers which
want permanent seats will be on the Council. While one might hope
they'd band together and be more transparent, do things in a
different way, the Permanent Representative of one of these countries
argued to Inner City Press on Monday that the three will try to show
they can get along with the P-5, that they are not “mavericks.”
But
what if the UN
needs more mavericks? To be continued.
Footnote:
some
old UN hands reminisce about Portugal's victory in the 1996 over
Australia, whose Permanent Representative Richard Butler held a
victory press conference before actually winning. When Portugal and
its Permanent Representative Antonio Monterio beat Canada, Butler was
called to account, and resurfaced at UNSCOM. Given Lawrence Cannon's
Tuesday press conference, can we be expected to one day inspect
Myanmar for nuclear weapons? Just asking.
Australia
is now
on record as running in 2013, and already counting votes...
* * *
For
UNSC
Seats,
Canada & Germany Offer Junkets, Colombia Opposed by
Chavez & Alba Group? India In, Zuma MIA?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September
2 -- To choose the five new non permanent members
of the UN Security Council, one contest is known, another only
rumored.
India
and
South
Africa are running unopposed, even though the latter's president
Jacob Zuma is now not coming to the UN General Debate in late
September. Colombia still maintains it's unopposed, but sources say
that the endorsement of the regional group GRULAC is by no means
assured, due to opposition from Venezuela and members of the ALBA
group.
Inner
City
Press
asked Venezuela's Ambassador Valero about the controversy on the
evening of September 1. He acknowledged GRULAC support was being
withheld, but said this might change if relations with new Colombian
president Santos continued to improve.
Secretary
General
Ban
Ki-moon's appointment of Alvaro Urbibe to his panel of the
assault on the Gaza flotilla continues to chafe the Grupo Alba.
Venezuela is slated to head the Group of 77 and China in the coming
year, and will act on that appointment at that time.
Skeptical
observers link Ban's Uribe appointment not only to a desire to please
the U.S. and Israel, but also Colombia, as it would have a vote on
Ban's second term. Ban's backtrack on Kashmir is also seen in this
light.
The
competition
between Germany, Canada and Portugal for the two Western Europe and
Other Group (WEOG) seats is heating up, with attempts to buy votes. The
Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
complained to Inner City Press about Canada flying five African
Ambassadors north last weekend, and said he was not going.
Last
month
outside
the General Assembly's session on the floods in Pakistan,
Inner City Press asked Canada's foreign minister Lawrence Cannon how
the campaign was
going. Good, good, he said with a smile.
On
the evening of
August 30, simultaneous with Russia's End of Security Council
Presidency party uptown, Germany held a reception in the UN's North
Lawn building, promoting its funding of African border demarcations.
Sources
told
Inner
City Press that Germany behind the scenes was topping Canada by
inviting African and other developing world Ambassadors for a
European junket.
Inner City
Press asked the German mission to “please
confirm or deny that Germany recently invited a number of developing
world diplomats and their spouses to Germany. Please state how many
diplomats and spouses were invited, including how many from Africa
and from which countries, to where, and why. Please comment on the
relation between these invitations and Germany's run for a Security
Council seat 2011-12.”
Six
hours later
Inner City Press received a response from the German mission to
the UN, below.
UN's Ban & Angela Merkel, Gästeprogramm
not
shown
Subject:
Re:
press
questions
From: .NEWYVN POL-2-6 Eberl, Alexander
To:
"Matthew R. Lee" Inner City Press
Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2010
at 6:49 PM
Dear
Mr.
Lee,
thank you for your mail... Within the framework of the
so-called “Gästeprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”
(Visitors Programm of the Federal Republic of Germany) the Federal
Government and the German Bundestag jointly and regularly invite
different groups of foreign personalities to Germany.
This
well-established
programme
stretches back to the early years of the
Federal Republic and has through time covered a wide variety of
countries and topics. It is aimed at foreign personalities with an
accentuated role in their country, be it in politics, society or
culture – or journalism. The programme intends to foster the
dialogue between Germany and other countries, societies and cultures.
Please note, that spouses are not invited or covered by the
programme.
Various
groups
–
among them this year all in all around fifty diplomats
from developing countries based in New York – were invited to
Germany. They held fruitful meetings and talks both in Berlin as well
as in other German places.
The
aim
of
the Visitors Programme has always been to make insights
available and thereby improve the understanding of Germany. It goes
without saying that Germany – as a keen multilateralist – has an
interest to provide decision-makers with opportunities of firsthand
information.
Best
regards,
Alexander
Eberl,
Press
& Public Relations
Permanent Mission of Germany
to the United Nations
Can
Portugal, given
its financial problems, keep up? Should UN Security Council seats be
for sale? Watch this site.
, 
