Guinea
Bissau Torn
Between Togo
and Portugal,
On SC to 2013,
Not on Agenda
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 2 --
After a
dispute at the
UN last week
about who
could
speak for
post-coup
Guinea Bissau
in the General
Debate (no
one, as it
turned out),
the situation
in the country
was not even
listed in the
Security
Council's
program of
work for
October.
Inner
City Press
asked incoming
Council
president Gert
Rosenthal of
Guatemala, who
had spoken of
Mali, about
the "other
coup"
in Guinea
Bissau and what the
Council would
or could do.
Video
here,
from Minute
22:48.
Rosenthal
told
Inner City
Press that
Guinea Bissau
is "a perfect
example
of how the
Security
Council works
best when it's
united --
meaning
when not
united we have
difficulty
drafting
agreements. As
you know
there are
difficult
points of view
among ECOWAS
states, which
are
represented on
the Security
Council this
year by Togo,
and the
Lusophones,
represented in
Security
Council this
year by
Portugal."
We
note that
Portugal is
leaving the
Council on
December 31,
2012, while
Togo has
another year
to go. But the
Losophone or
CPLP position
is
what it is:
will it be
heard the same
by the
Council?
Continuing,
Rosenthal
said it had
been
"difficult
reaching a
meeting of
minds" on
Guinea Bissau
and this was
"unfortunate
for most
members
including my
delegation, we
think the
Security
Council should
act."
Responding
on
pre-coup
leader Pereira
being listed
in the UN
Journal as a
General Debate
speaker for
September 28,
and then being
skipped over,
Rosenthal told
Inner City
Press, "What
happened in
the General
Assembly last
week, we were
unable to
determine who
speaks in name
of
present
government of
Guinea Bissau,
is an example
of how these
situations can
make
agreements
very
difficult."
Inner
City Press
asked a
Lusophone or
CPLP Permanent
Representative
earlier
on Tuesday why
Pereira hadn't
spoke. He
agreed, was
the answer,
after
pressure. But
"the other
one" -- the
post-coup
leader --
"is not the
one with the
credentials."
And so it goes
at
the UN -- at
least until
the end of the
year? Watch
this site.
, 
