By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- The three way race for two UN Security Council seats has entered its final week. Thursday morning alongside a lightly attended General Assembly meeting on its own long delayed revitalization, the Permanent Representatives of the three -- Australia, Finland and Luxembourg -- arrived at the GA. But they went into side Indonesian Lounge, not the GA Hall.
When Australia's Permanent Representative left, he told Inner City Press with a smile, "just seven days left... I need revitalization, too." His good humor, a number of delegates have told Inner City Press, will serve his country well.
Finland's Permanent Representative left, telling Inner City Press, "We usually say." And his country has been active in the committees in the North Lawn building.
But leaving as the Revitalization of the General Assembly meeting was ongoing was no shame: new President of the GA Vuk Jeremic, after giving a more interesting than usual speech citing Carlyle, left at 11 am.
Luxembourg is something of the dark horse in the race, having campaigned a lot "in the field," as well as around Peacebuilding within the UN in New York.
Not to put too much on a single quote, but one African Permanent Representative stopped and told Inner City Press that "some in the African Union are saying there are already too much Europeans on the Security Council."
When Inner City Press conveyed this to another diplomat, he replied, "You got it -- Finland and Australia." We'll see.
Meanwhile as Inner City Press reported yesterday, the African seat being given up by South Africa still seems destined for Rwanda.
"So far it's still a clean slate," a source observed to Inner City Press, wondering if another African country might emerge to challenge Rwanda. To us, this still seems unlikely.
The other contested race, between South Korea, Cambodia and Bhutan for a single seat, spread out to the other side of the otherwise empty stakeout where Inner City Press covered entrants and Webcasts of meetings on the North Lawn, and Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium.
There was even an extensive campaign pitch made to Inner City Press. We will have more on this. Watch this site.
