World

No To Sudan

October 10, 2000 / 4:16 PM EDT / AP

Colombia, Ireland, Mauritius, Norway and Singapore won two-year terms on the Security Council on Tuesday. The vote was a major victory for the United States, which had campaigned to prevent Sudan from getting a seat.

Mauritius, the U.S.-backed candidate, beat out Sudan in the fourth round of balloting 113-55, giving it the required two-thirds majority to win the single seat allocated for Africa.

In secret ballots, the General Assembly chose new countries to replace outgoing council members Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia and the Netherlands, whose two-year rotating stints come to a close 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 echoed 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 waged a quiet but intense diplomatic campaign to make their cases.

In the initial ballot Tuesday, Ireland won 130 votes, more than the required two-thirds majority necessary. In the fourth round, Norway got the needed 115 votes - precisely - to beat out Italy, which got 57.

The African Group back in July settled on Sudan to replace Namibia. But Mauritius signed itself up as an independent candidate, and was backed by the United States.

Washington, supported by human rights groups, mounted a very public campaign to discredit Sudan, saying it is a sponsor of terrorism and doesn't deserve to sit on the council because it is under U.N. sanctions, albeit limited diplomatic ones.

Sudan denounced the American intervention and appealed to Africans to maintain the consensus and vote them in, noting that nothing in the U.N. Charter precludes a country under sanctions from sitting on the council.

But after the first round of balloting, Mauritius had 95 votes and Sudan 69, requiring a runoff. Neither secured the necessary majority 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 veto-wielding permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The 10 other seats go to non-permanent 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 the two-way race for the Latin American seat and allowed Mexico to come through as the compromise candidate, according to U.N. General Assembly spokeswoman Sue Markham.

Ireland and Norway reminded U.N. members hat it had been two decades since either served on the council. Ireland has only served one full term - in 1981-82 - and a half term in 1962.

Norway has served three terms, most recently in 1979-80.

"It's important for the U.N. to have fair rotation and that small nations also have the right to serve on the Security Council," Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland said in an interview during a last-minute lobbying trip to U.N. headquarters last week.

Italy last sat on the council in 1995-96 - and four times previously.

But Italy tried to promote other qualities to support its bid, noting that it is billed more than either of the other two candidates for U.N. dues. Italy is the fifth top contributor to the U.N. administrative budget, which this year amounted to $57 million.