By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 30 -- Colombia's months atop the UN Security Council began and ended with backlogs caused by French grandstanding, on Syria and Congo.
In between, Nestor Osorio managed issued ranging from Cyprus through Sudan and Guinea Bissau to, on his last day, the Mission in Darfur. Throughout the month the coffee flowed, hot and cold, drawing a crowd.
On the next to last night, Osorio threw his end of presidency reception in the Juan Valdez coffee house on 57th Street. It was better than most such events, with a Latin music trio, barrista bar set up, and even dancing.
Inner City Press asked if the Somali foreign minister was still on for Tuesday. No, was the answer, he has left town. There were other answers, ranging from if the Lord's Resistance Army is still in the UNAMID resolution (yes) to whether Rwanda will be mentioned in France's Congo draft -- another P5 member did not know.
France was again over represented, with PR Araud, DPR Briens and the deputy spokesman. They intend to dominate August, even with their ruling class on a month long vacation.
The backlog at the start was triggered by France's loud request for Navi Pillay to brief on Syria. In retrospect she had little new information, and little came of it.
On July 30, while France spun the media it would circulate a draft press statement about the Congo it did not. One wondered if the goal was to delay so that Osorio's replacement, Gerard Araud of France, could read out the statement on UN TV.
Last time Araud was Council president, in May 2011, he did only three question and answer stakeouts, and fled one of them without taking any questions.
Osorio by contrast did at least nine stakeouts this July, foregoing one so his foreign minister Holguin could speak. Osorio strove to live up to what's call the gold standard: a stakeout by the president after closed door consultations, to try to explain what happened.
And at his end of Presidency reception he was gracious, even explaining how some sessions were canceled, and giving out flowers and taking photos to the end. Nestor Osorio: presente! Watch this site.
