Togo
Slow-Mo
Swag Bag in
Fight for
Council Seat,
OIC Eyes 4
Seats, Morocco
Flexes Muscle
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 18 --
In the run-up
to the October
21 elections
for
five new UN
Security
Council
members,
candidates are
handing out
swag
bags but not
answering many
questions. For
Africa there
are three
candidates for
two seats:
Mauritania and
Togo, both
endorsed by
the
African Union,
and Morocco,
which is not
an AU member.
On
Tuesday night
Togo threw a
reception in
the UN's
Delegates'
Dining Room
trying to
drum up votes.
Inner City
Press went,
not to eat and
drink but in
order to seek
comment. But
after being
given a swag
bag, Inner
City
Press was told
that the
Permanent
Representative
would have to
call
back with his
views.
Earlier
on Tuesday
a diplomat
long active in
the Security
Council mused
to Inner City
Press that
Togo would
probably hew
closely to the
policies of
its
former
colonial
ruler, France.
Would that
mean defending
air drops of
weapons in
violation of
UN Security
Council arms
embargoes?
Blocking
human rights
mandates for
the UN
Peacekeeping
mission in
Western
Sahara? We
will wait to
hear.
Morocco
seems sure
that it will
win on Friday,
without any AU
endorsement.
Mauritania is
working hard,
its Permanent
Representative
Abderrahim
Ould Hadrami
telling Inner
City Press
which European
countries
support him,
then
asking that
the list not
be published.
At least one
of the
countries,
shaped like a
boot,
refused to
confirm. The
ballots are
confidential.
The
Permanent
Representative
of a major
African Union
member told
Inner City
Press,
someone
ominously,
that if
Mauritania
gets less than
53 votes, the
"dissing" of
the AU will be
clear.
(c) UN Photo
Ban
Ki-moon &
Togo's PR
Kodjo Menan,
Oct 21
elections not
yet shown
Others
opine with
the
Organization
of the Islamic
Cooperation's
support, it is
possible
that both
Morocco and
Mauritania
could win,
leaving
sub-Saharan
Africa without
the seat
currently held
by Nigeria.
"Don't write
about that
possibility,"
one Islamic
country's
diplomat
pleaded.
But time is
getting short.
A
Moroccan
diplomat on
Tuesday told
Inner City
Press, we'll
see what you
write
about the
Fourth
Committee --
where Western
Sahara is
considered --
and then
decide how to
speak to you.
If
Azerbaijan
pulls off the
Eastern
European seat,
over Hungary
and Sloveria,
the
OIC could pick
up four of the
five open
seats,
including
Pakistan,
predicted to
win over
Kyrgystan.
Guatemala is
assured of a
win,
despite having
taken a
reservation
from the Group
of 77's
position of
support for
Palestine
joining the
UN.
While
mulling pieces
of these other
races, Inner
City Press on
Tuesday
while Togo's
party
continued
watched Togo's
video. It is
30 minutes
in length,
beginning with
photos
accompanied by
music. Video
clips
show hotels
and dancing
rituals, in
slow motion,
narrated in
Parisian
French and
featuring
tourists
fishing.
A hand out
pitches Togo's
decrease
of its debt
82% from 2009
to 2010, and
its
peacekeeping
service in
Cote d'Ivoire,
alongside
France's Force
Licorne. And
so it goes at
the UN.
, 
