Azeri
Momentum
Opposed by
France Then
Weekend,
Abstention
Mystery,
Russian
Resolution
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 21, updated
-- As
Azerbaijan and
Slovenia
fought round
after
round of
ballots for a
Security
Council seat,
the Azeri vote
count
began to rise
each time,
from 93 to 96
to 100 to 110.
Then after a
debate about
whether to
continue
without
interpreters,
France
intervened and
said it would
not proceed
without
translation
into
French.
Russia,
however,
spoke in favor
of continuing
and another
round was
held. During
the
ten minutes
when the
secret ballots
were being
counted, a
well placed
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
predicted to
Inner City
Press that
Azerbaijan's
total would
rise to 125
and they'd ask
for another,
knockout
round. "People
just want to
end it," the
DPR
explained.
Self-serving
as it
sounds, Inner
City Press
predicted 116
for
Azerbaijan. In
fact it was
113 --
Azerbaijan
apparently
heard it as
130 and a win
at first --
with Slovenia
falling to 77.
The fight was
called off or
put into
suspension
until Monday,
after the vote
for ECOSOC.
In non
restricted
rounds,
Estonia got
one vote. One
wag posited
Estonia voted
for itself, to
show its
readiness to
step in. But
who continued
abstaining in
restricted
rounds?
End of
the end,
leaving GA 7
pm Friday,
Azeri mo not
shown (c)
MRLee
Later
when asked,
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
would not
comment on his
complaint and
position.
In
the rounds of
voting before
6 pm, all 193
UN members
participated;
after 6, only
191. Did
France in fact
drop out?
Downstairs
past 7
pm a Security
Council
consultations
began on
Libya, with
Russia set
to introduce a
resolution to
belatedly end
NATO's
mandate.
A
Security
Council member
at 7:30 pm
told Inner
City Press the
resolution had
been unveiled,
discussions to
continue
Monday, amid
disagreements.
A
European
Permanent
Representative,
walking away
from casting
votes in
the General
Assembly, told
Inner City
Press that
NATO was
already
ending it.
He
shook his head
at what he
called the
"African
Union's loss"
in endorsing
Mauritania
which lost. He
suggested
listening
online to a
recorded
conversation
of Sengal's
Wade with
Gaddafi. "He
didn't do much
for the AU,"
the Perm Rep
said. "Have a
good weekend."
And
so by day's
end
there were
four new
Council
members:
Pakistan,
Morocco, Togo
and
Guatemala.
Regarding the
last, the
mystery
remained on
who the two
abstentions
were. Inner
City Press
asked
Permanent
Representative
of
one Grupo ALBA
country who
smiled and
said "I voted
for all the
winners." It
was a widely
held position.
Update
of 7:45 pm
-- as Russian
Ambassador
Churkin left
the
consultations,
he said the no
fly zone must
end. Inner
City Press
asked if that
meant ending
NATO's
mandate; he
said yes.
Asked about
the text, he
said it is
"short and
clear - like
every Russian
text."
Meanwhile a
well placed
European
diplomat said
some Council
members are
not in a hurry
to lift the no
fly zone or
exclude
continued NATO
bombing, even
now. We'll
see.
, 
