To
Reform
UNSC, Japan
Tries to
Divide Africa,
Others Try G-4
Split
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 8 --
With the
perennial
topic of UN
Security
Council reform
the subject of
speeches
Tuesday in the
General
Assembly, the
lack of
seriousness
with which the
Council's five
Permanent
members took
it was in
evidence.
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud,
for example,
cut out early
with this
spokesman from
a Security
Council
consultation
on upcoming
elections
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo --
but not to
speak in
France's slot
in the General
Assembly
debate a mere
two stories
above.
Rather, he
left his
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Briens to
deliver that
speech.
Likewise
the US,
which has
promised India
for example
its support
for a
permanent seat
on the
Council, was
represented
not by Susan
Rice but
rather her
Deputy,
Rosemary
DiCarlo.
Shortly after
DiCarlo's low
key speech,
when Cuba was
speaking the
UN Television
camera swung
back to where
DiCarlo had
been sitting.
Now it was a
junior US
diplomat,
typing on
his cell
phone.
Japan
of course is
lusting for
more from the
UN. Its
Permanent
Representative
Nishita
distributed
his speech to
the Press in
advance, and
chatted with
Inner City
Press on his
way up to
deliver it.
He announced a
November 14
conference in
Toyko. Not
long after, a
diplomat who
will
attend in
Tokyo told
Inner City
Press
succinctly,
"Japan will be
trying to
divide Africa,
but we'll be
trying to
divide the
G-4." And so
it goes at the
UN.
Earlier
on Tuesday
countries
reviewed the
Security
Council's
annual report
and actual
performance.
Ireland for
example
questioned the
seriousness of
the
Council's all
day thematic
debates,
saying that
the promised
interactivity
was in
practice
nearly zero.
A
member of the
so-called S-5
suggested that
the reports by
each month's
Council
president
should be more
serious, and
that the
annual report
should
be distributed
further in
advance.
Amazingly,
Nepal
was listed as
among the
Council's
successes in
the year --
the UN was
in fact thrown
out -- while
tardiness on
Cote d'Ivoire
was chided,
while France
used the
Council to
legitimize its
Force
Licorne's
assault
on the
Presidential
palace.
The P-5 do
what they want
and
the rest just
talk, as one
wag put it.
Speeches will
continue on
Wednesday. And
so it goes at
the UN.
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