Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06USUNNEWYORK1062
2006-05-23 23:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
USUN New York
Cable title:
SYG SELECTION: SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD "INFORMAL
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 PP RUEHWEB DE RUCNDT #1062 1432354 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 232354Z MAY 06 FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9140 INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001062
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2011
TAGS: PREL UN UNSC
SUBJECT: SYG SELECTION: SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD "INFORMAL
INFORMALS" MAY 25
REF: A. USUN - IO/UNP EMAIL 5/23
B. USUN 892
Classified By: Ambassador John R. Bolton, Permanent
Representative, 1.4 b and d.
C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001062
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2011
TAGS: PREL UN UNSC
SUBJECT: SYG SELECTION: SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD "INFORMAL
INFORMALS" MAY 25
REF: A. USUN - IO/UNP EMAIL 5/23
B. USUN 892
Classified By: Ambassador John R. Bolton, Permanent
Representative, 1.4 b and d.
1. (C) P5 Permanent Representatives (PRs) met May 18 to
discuss next steps in the Security Council's efforts to
select the next UN Secretary-General (SYG). Based on P5
agreement, the French will host "informal informals" of the
Security Council on Thursday, May 25. The P5 have agreed
that France host this meeting in anticipation of its upcoming
Security Council Presidency in July, during which we expect
to begin the formal process of considering specific
candidates.
2. (C) In advance of the May 25 meeting, the French will
circulate to all fifteen members a two-page paper that lays
out the basic procedures used in the 1991 and 1996 elections.
The French paper also suggests key questions for Council
members to consider with regard to straw polls, transparency
and the candidate list. The questions, agreed upon by the
P5, are general and designed to build consensus. (The issue
of regional rotation, for instance, is not addressed.)
3. (C) Russian PR Churkin opposed any reference in the French
paper to the idea that candidates can be submitted by NGOs.
Stressing that the UN was an organization of member states,
Churkin argued that any reasonable candidate proposed by an
NGO would be able to find a member state to sponsor him or
her. "Otherwise we will end up with an election of Nobel
Peace Prize winners, not the Secretary-General of the UN."
The French agreed to remove the reference, but noted that a
candidate introduced by an NGO had been included on the
candidate list in 1991. Ambassador Bolton, noting the goal
of encouraging the widest possible field of candidates,
suggested that the focus should be on the Council's
consultations, and not on the details of how any particular
name was originally proffered.
BOLTON
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2011
TAGS: PREL UN UNSC
SUBJECT: SYG SELECTION: SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD "INFORMAL
INFORMALS" MAY 25
REF: A. USUN - IO/UNP EMAIL 5/23
B. USUN 892
Classified By: Ambassador John R. Bolton, Permanent
Representative, 1.4 b and d.
1. (C) P5 Permanent Representatives (PRs) met May 18 to
discuss next steps in the Security Council's efforts to
select the next UN Secretary-General (SYG). Based on P5
agreement, the French will host "informal informals" of the
Security Council on Thursday, May 25. The P5 have agreed
that France host this meeting in anticipation of its upcoming
Security Council Presidency in July, during which we expect
to begin the formal process of considering specific
candidates.
2. (C) In advance of the May 25 meeting, the French will
circulate to all fifteen members a two-page paper that lays
out the basic procedures used in the 1991 and 1996 elections.
The French paper also suggests key questions for Council
members to consider with regard to straw polls, transparency
and the candidate list. The questions, agreed upon by the
P5, are general and designed to build consensus. (The issue
of regional rotation, for instance, is not addressed.)
3. (C) Russian PR Churkin opposed any reference in the French
paper to the idea that candidates can be submitted by NGOs.
Stressing that the UN was an organization of member states,
Churkin argued that any reasonable candidate proposed by an
NGO would be able to find a member state to sponsor him or
her. "Otherwise we will end up with an election of Nobel
Peace Prize winners, not the Secretary-General of the UN."
The French agreed to remove the reference, but noted that a
candidate introduced by an NGO had been included on the
candidate list in 1991. Ambassador Bolton, noting the goal
of encouraging the widest possible field of candidates,
suggested that the focus should be on the Council's
consultations, and not on the details of how any particular
name was originally proffered.
BOLTON