News Article by IHT posted on October 11, 2000 at 09:00:41: EST (-5 GMT)
Washington's Lobbying Keeps Sudan Out of UN Security Council
International Herald Tribune
11 October 2000
UNITED NATIONS, New York - The United States scored a
major
diplomatic victory Tuesday when it prevented Sudan from winning
a
two-year term on the Security Council.
Supported by human rights groups, Washington had mounted a public
campaign
to discredit Sudan, saying it was a sponsor of terrorism and did
not deserve
to sit on the council because it was under UN sanctions itself,
albeit
limited diplomatic ones.
Mauritius, the U.S.-backed candidate, beat out Sudan in the fourth
round
of balloting by 113 votes to 55, giving it the required two-thirds
majority to
win the single seat allocated to Africa. Colombia, Ireland,
Norway and
Singapore also became new temporary members.
In secret ballots, the General Assembly chose new countries to replace
the
outgoing council members - Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia and
the
Netherlands - whose two-year rotating terms will end at the end of
the
year.
Regional groups had settled on candidates to fill two of those five seats
-
Colombia and Singapore - and the full General Assembly confirmed
those
nominations Tuesday.
But the so-called Western European and Others group failed to come up
with
consensus candidates to take the two European seats opening for the
2001-2002
term. Ireland, Italy and Norway contested those seats, and
each waged a quiet
but intense diplomatic campaign.
In the initial ballot Tuesday, Ireland won 130 votes, more than the
required
two-thirds majority. In the fourth round, Norway got the needed 115
votes
- precisely - to beat out Italy.
In July, the African Group settled on Sudan to replace Namibia.
But
Mauritius signed itself up as an independent candidate and was backed
by
the United States. Sudan has been under sanctions since 1996 for failing
to
hand over three men wanted for a 1995 assassination attempt in
Addis
Ababa against President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. But it appears
the
sanctions might be lifted before the end of the year.
The Muslim government in Khartoum has been waging a long civil war
that
human rights groups charge involves indiscriminate bombing,
starvation,
slavery and forced religious conversions against the country's
predominantly
black southerners. Sudan has countered U.S. opposition by
appealing to
African countries to maintain consensus and disregard
Washington's
interference.
But Uganda joined the U.S. drive, saying an Organization of African
Unity
decision to nominate Sudan for the council seat had not followed
proper
procedures.
In August 1998, the United States bombed a pharmaceutical factory
in
Khartoum on grounds - since widely disputed - that it was preparing
to
produce chemical-weapon ingredients and had links to Osama bin
Laden,
the Saudi-born militant who is accused of bombing two U.S. embassies.
After the first round of balloting, Mauritius had 95 votes and Sudan
69,
requiring a runoff. Neither secured the necessary total in the second or
third
round, but Mauritius pulled through in the fourth.
The Security Council, the United Nations' top decision-making body,
is
made up of 15 members, five of them permanent members with veto
powers:
Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The 10 other
seats go
to nonpermanent members, five of whom are elected to two-year
terms each
year.
Candidates must win two-thirds of the ballots of countries present
and
voting. If a candidate fails to get the required two-thirds majority on
the first
ballot, a second round is held - and more if necessary - until a
nominee
secures two-thirds of the vote.
In 1979, the General Assembly went 154 rounds before Colombia and
Cuba
both bowed out of a two-way race for the Latin American seat and
allowed
Mexico to enter as the compromise candidate, according to the
assembly's
spokeswoman, Sue Markham.