UNSC
Session on
African Union
Delayed, By
Rice Request
for Better
Speaking Spot?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 12,
updated --
When the
African Union
meeting of the
UN
Security
Council was
delayed for
more than half
an hour, most
member
states milling
around in the
chamber were
not told why.
But
well placed
Council
sources tell
Inner City
Press it was,
at least in
part, a fight
by US
Ambassador
Susan Rice to
be given a
more prominent
place to speak
in. Rice is
listed an not
just a
Permanent
Representative
like the other
Ambassadors on
the Council,
but as an
Obama
administration
cabinet
member.
As
such, Rice
is said to
want to speak
before all
other Council
Permanent
Representatives.
Before
Thursday's
meeting, which
included
foreign
ministers
after
South African
President
Jacob Zuma,
Russia among
others opposed
Rice's
request,
saying the
matter of
speaking order
needs to be
straightened
out.
[Outside the
Council, Rice
not
infrequently speaks off
the cuff on
issues of
interest like
South Sudan.
Her position
on the controversy
about the
Russian
helicopters in
South Sudan,
covered
yesterday,
is awaited
with
interest.'
Another
Council source
added of
Thursday's
delay, "they
wanted Kenya
to come down,
questions of
Council
members versus
non Council
members."
(c) UN Photo
Ambassadors
Rice, Araud
and Churkin,
speaking order
not shown
Ultimately,
Inner
City Press is
told, the
"draw" would
have put Rice
ahead of
other Council
Permanent
Representatives.
And so it was:
the meeting
began. More to
follow - watch
this site.
Update:
For
the record,
some claim
that the
explicit
criticism made
Thursday
morning
involved the
priority
between a
Permanent
Representative
and
some deputy
foreign
ministers. The
UN circulated
the list of
speakers
much later
than usual,
and it had
Susan Rice as
"Member of
President
Obama's
Cabinet"
speaking in
front of the
following
ministers:
Germany
-
Her Excellency
Ms. Cornelia
Pieper,
Minister of
State at the
Federal
Foreign Office
France
-
His Excellency
Mr. Edouard
Courtial,
Minister of
State attached
to
the "Ministre
d'Etat,"
Minister of
Foreign and
European
Affairs
Portugal-
His
Excellency Mr.
Luis Brites
Pereria,
Secretary of
State for
Foreign and
Cooperation
Affairs at the
Ministry for
Foreign
Affairs
China
-
His Excellency
Mr. Liu
Guijin,
Special
Representative
of the
Chinese
Government for
African
Affairs
Togo-
His
Excellency Mr.
Koffi Esaw,
Minister,
Special
Advisor to the
President
While
several
Security
Council
members were
critical of
what one
called "line
jumping,"
another said
that it is
difficult to
make direct
comparisons
between
different
political
systems. While
numerous
Council
sources, not
conferring
with each
other,
described the
dispute as
regarding
Susan Rice, an
argument is
made that this
was
never the
issue
explicitly
raised --
which another
Ambassador
called
"typical."
Dispositively,
for now, the
Permanent
Representative
of one
Permanent
Member of the
Council told
Inner City
Press, the
matter of the
speaking order
needs to be
straightened
out.
But will it
be?
, 
