At
UN,
Morocco Says
Mauritania
Broke
Rotation,
Haroun Takes
Puri's Call
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 21 --
Morocco won a
UN Security
Council seat
in the
first round of
voting, along
with less
surprisingly
Pakistan and
unopposed
Guatemala,
which got 191
votes and two
anonymous
abstentions.
Afterward
Inner
City Press
asked
Morocco's
Foreign
Minister to
confirm what
his
delegation
said, that
Mauritania had
agreed not to
run for the
North
African seat
until others
in the
sub-group had.
Yes, the
Foreign
Minister
replied, but
the "principle
of rotation"
prevailed.
Inner
City Press
asked how
Morocco
intended to
impact the
Western Sahara
issue on the
Council and
also
Palestine. He
replied that
Morocco was
only the
Council 20
years ago,
with "Moroccan
Sahara" on the
agenda.
He did not
answer on
Palestine, but
walked away
from the
stakeout
microphone.
Minutes
before on
that same
microphone
Inner City
Press asked
Pakistan's
Permanent
Representative
Haroun if
being on the
Council will
make the
Kashmir
issue more
prominent on
the Council's
agenda. He
replied that
Kashmir
is already on
the agenda,
and that he
gets along
well with
India's
Ambassador,
Hardeep Singh
Puri.
Then
Haroun
answered his
cell phone,
saying on
camera that it
was
"Ambassador
Puri"
congratulating
him. While
seeming to
many to be
staged,
it was good
theater,
perhaps a
harbinger of
things to
come.
Haroun tells
Indian call,
good times
ahead (C)
MRLee
Inner
City Press
had asked the
Office of the
Spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
briefly
postpone its
noon briefing
during these
two
stakeouts. At
12:11 Inner
City Press ran
to the
briefing room,
only
to find
Spokesman
Martin Nesirky
packing up his
files, ending
the
briefing. So
it goes at
Ban's UN.
Back at
the General
Assembly
stakeout,
Inner City
Press asked
Guatemala's
foreign
minister for
his country's
position on
Palestine UN
membership, on
which
Guatemala took
a reservation
from the Group
of 77's
position.
He said the
country favors
a two state
solution, is
in elections
and will have
a position
before joining
the Council,
which takes
place January
1.
Inner City
Press asked
twice about
the two
absentions. He
said Guatemala
doesn't know
who cast them
- averigua la,
check it out.
There
are second
rounds on Togo
versus
Mauritania,
and in the
Eastern
European
Group.
Watch this
site.
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