Courted, Seduced and Abandoned After the Vote for Collective Action

By Ian Williams

The weeks since the beginning of the Second Gulf War have not been good for the United Nations. As one staffer put it, for five months the organization was wooed assiduously, then seduced, and has now been abandoned by America. (Indeed, to pursue the analogy further, the US is in arrears on its maintenance payments, owing around half a billion dollars in dues.)

In the early stages of the crisis, the USSR had insisted on the revival of the Joint Military Staff Committee—an organizational fossil from the closing days of World War II—which would have maintained UN control over the forces in the Gulf. In the end, the only compromise secured by the Soviets was the extension of the deadline for war from 30 to 45 days, meaning from Jan. 1, 1991 to Jan. 15, 1991. Apart from that concession, resolution 678 gave the US a blank check for its conduct of the war, and also for its interpretation of war aims.

Possibly the last direct UN involvement was the telephone call Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar received from President Bush giving him an hour's notice that the bombers were on their way to Baghdad. "I don't think it's time for diplomacy at this very moment, which means that there's not much I can do, " de Cuellar told the press. His assessment of peace prospects was equally wearied. "It depended on Iraq, whether Iraq capitulates."

After a week of the war, Yemen discovered the limits to non-permanent members' powers in the Security Council. It tried, unsuccessfully, to get a meeting on the war. "It's the first time that this has happened, " Yemeni Ambassador Abdalla. Al-Ashtal told the Washington Report, accusing Zaire, council president for January, of unconstitutionally refusing his request. He added, "The new world order is making it more and more an institution to serve US policy. Resolution 678 does not call for the destruction of Iraq and the conduct of the war is going beyond its purpose."

However, Al-Ashtal's case was not helped by Iraq's Ambassador, Abdulla Al Anbari, who told the Secretary-General that there was no question of relinquishing Kuwait. Zimbabwe held the presidency for February, but despite its stalwart non-alignment, its ambassador made plain that any meeting on the issue would need firm proposals from Iraq. And, of course, the West could veto any proposal that it did not consider satisfactory.

After the shooting, there may well be some serious questioning of the prerogative of the Security Council. The "new world order, " as proclaimed by US President Bush, bears a striking resemblance to the old world order, enshrined in the make-up of the Security Council, where the US, USSR ' UK ' China and France owe their permanent seats and their veto power to their victory over Germany and Japan in 1945.

A balance between powers was once maintained by the Soviet and Chinese use of their vetoes on behalf of the Third World. In the new regime, the only consistent veto is the one Washington exercises on Israel's behalf.

In addition, Germany and Japan are not now defeated nations, but economic superpowers in their own right, while over a hundred, mostly Third World, states have joined. None of them feel committed to the Yalta carve-up. Japan has let it be known that it thinks it merits a permanent seat. Any question of revising the UN charter, however, would open a whole can of worms, throwing into doubt the justification for France and Britain's positions.

UN General Assembly Votes 144 to 2 for Middle East Conference

Naturally, there is some resentment amongst General Assembly members that they often seem to have no function except as a sort of running international opinion poll. However, the Assembly's role should not be discounted; rather it should be publicized.

In general, the Assembly, unfettered by vetoes, is more consistent in its decisions than the Security Council. It did indeed oppose the annexation of Kuwait, with only Iraq voting against. But, also in December, Israel and the US were the sole nays to a series of resolutions on the Palestine question, calling among other things for an international peace conference on the Middle East (144-2), and Security Council action to protect Palestinians in the occupied territories (141-2).

Although the decisions went largely unreported, one cannot help think that, while publicity about the Kuwait resolution might have helped persuade Iraqis of their country's isolation on this issue, American media inattention to General Assembly votes has helped distort US policy on the Middle East. After all, does the American electorate know that every single member of the 28-member coalition in the Gulf, including Britain, France, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, voted against their US ally on the Palestine question?

The "new world order" bears a striking resemblance to the old world order.

The General Assembly consistency is not surprising, since membership in the United Nations is seen by many small nations as almost an insurance policy against aggression. There have been many invasions and interventions, from Czechoslovakia to Panama, but so far no UN member has been obliterated against its will. East Timor, Western Sahara, Palestine, Sikkim and other now-occupied polities had neither membership nor its consequent recognition as an independent state.

Similarly, the importance of the UN role as the world's meeting place is demonstrated by the rumblings around the fringes of the war. China, which abstained on the issue of military action, did not share the White House's enthusiasm for Japanese military intervention abroad. "We hope the Japanese government will act cautiously when handling this kind of sensitive issue," China's Foreign Ministry warned.

Cyprus Points a Warning Finger

In like manner, following Turkey's eagerness to help enforce (some) Security Council decisions, the irony was not lost on Cypriot Ambassador Andreas Mavromattis when a letter from "the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" affirmed its intention to abide by the boycott of Iraq. It was a timely reminder of the continuing existence of a body with all the legal validity of the Iraqi provincial government of Kuwait. The Cypriots said outright what the Greeks hinted at, and many other speculated about, that Turkey had plans both for the Kurds and the oil of northern Iraq.

Indeed Cypriots and Greeks are busy telling anyone who will listen that they hope that the precedent of such strong action to enforce decisions on Iraq augurs well for other wrongs—like Northern Cyprus—to be righted as a result of international sensitivity to the implementation of UN decisions.

However, the half-hearted reaction to the deportation by Israel of four Palestinian leaders does not inspire such hopes. Even close US allies like Britain were distinctly unhappy at the US attempt to eat the Iraqi cake while having the Israeli one. In effect, the US in the Security Council condemned the decision to deport the four Palestinian leaders, while refusing to condemn the act of deportation.

In this case, the fruitless negotiations to avert the US veto dragged on until the PLO and Yemen agreed to drop the matter because of the start of the Gulf war. The inclusion of the pro-expulsion party Moledet in the Israeli Cabinet, and the continuing Israeli proxy veto in the Security Council are not a combination to inspire hope.

When he visited the UN in January, Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmet Abdul Magid was asked if he had any comment on the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. He did not mince words: "We consider that these acts are inhuman and must come to an end. Can I be clearer than that?"

It remains to be seen whether the White House after the war listens more to those who fought alongside it—or to the country exacting a price for not fighting!

Gulf War Dooms Yemen's Bid For UN Presidency

Yemen's bid for the presidency of the UN is yet another probable casualty of the Gulf war. Last year, Abdalla Saleh Al-Ashtal, Yemen's representative to the United Nations, had informed the Asian Group of his candidacy for the position of presidency of the 46th General Assembly, which begins this September. "No one raised any objections to it then, and I was hoping for their full support," he says, "but now things have changed. " Cyprus and Papua New Guinea have nominated candidates against Yemen.

Al-Ashtal had been at the UN for 18 years, representing the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), when he became ambassador for the newly unified Yemen. The country is in the middle of its two-year term on the Security Council, which, of course, gives great opportunities for making friends—and enemies.

No one doubts Al-Ashtal's ability and expertise, which was earning the respect even of Western diplomats. However, Yemen's lonely stand on the Gulf crisis has left him out on a limb. For obvious reasons, he cannot now rely on the united support of the Arab group, let alone other countries in the Asian group whose turn it is to nominate.

The president is elected for one year, during which he or she presides over the General Assembly, basking in the prestige and prominence of the position. The position rotates among the various regional groups, who usually adopt a consensus candidate to, present to the General Assembly, where election is customarily a formality. The position offers a platform for smaller states which might otherwise go unmarked, so it is eagerly sought.

Among the other candidates, Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lacovou has been prominent in the non-aligned movement, but his candidacy was immediately opposed by Turkey, which wrote challenging the legitimacy of the Cypriot government. The Cypriot mission would not comment on the progress of Lacovou's campaign, but it is suspected that it is now a matter of scoring points against Ankara as much as a serious push for office. In addition, rival campaigns are questioning the Asian credentials of Cyprus. It has been trying to join the European community. No one really knows why Malta, another Mediterranean island, or, for that matter, Turkey, should be in the West European Group, while Cyprus should be in the Asian Group.

The favorite candidate is Papua New Guinea's foreign minister and former prime minister, Sir Michael Somare. PNG has been working assiduously to secure the post, and Renagi Renagi Lohia, its representative at the UN, claims the support of 31 out of 38 countries in the group. Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon, and of course Cyprus and Yemen, are his missing links. When the Asian Group meets in February, it seems Sornare will have a
head start.

Al-Ashtal is philosophical about the position. Realizing just how much things have changed, he is not actively canvassing. "It's not for me to make an important issue of it at a time like this, " he says. "We have much larger problems in the region."

As an example of the kind of acrimony the position can arouse, last year there were accusations of a "Maltese Double Cross." Last year's campaign in the West European Group was fought on behalf of Maltese Ambassador Alexander Borg Olivier, who has worked for many years at the United Nations, and who is also the son of the former Nationalist Party premier of Malta. But since the selection is for states rather than individuals, Borg Olivier was supplanted at the last minute by Guido De Marco, within three days of the latter becoming foreign minister. De Marco took up office as president of the 45th General Assembly last September.

Ian Williams is a British journalist based at the United Nations.