On Post 2015, Debt Sustainability Cut Slammed, LDCs Say Being Sold Out

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- Past the deadline for the Post-2015 development agenda text, Kenyan Ambassador to the UN Macharia Kamau kicked off what was support to be the past session, saying it would take a couple of hours.

   South Africa for G77 began, saying for example that debt sustainability should go back in. The Maldives for AOSIS and Belize for CARICOM also spoke for re-inclusion.

   The European Union followed, calling for the deletion of Paragraph 44 saying the International Monetary Fund should “respect the policy space of each country.”

   Benin upset the apple cart, for the Least Developed Countries, saying that the LDCs were being sold out, through-out the UN system. Ambassador Kamau stayed cool, joking “what would I do without you?” There is not enough laughter at the UN.

  Before the session started, Inner City Press spoke with some who stayed to defend Paragraph 29 against unilateral economic measures -- sanctions -- and others opposed (and others for) Paragraph 33 on foreign occupation. Could this deal be reached? Watch this site.