TANZANIA TO VOTE AGAINST BELARUS ON UN HUMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000668 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA, EUR/PGI, USUN NEW YORK ANS US MISSION GENEVA ALSO DEPT AF/E FOR B YODER AND D MALAC E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2012 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM TZ SUBJECT: TANZANIA TO VOTE AGAINST BELARUS ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL REF: STATE 58056 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Tulinabo Mushingi, for r eason 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador Begum Taj, Head of the Multilateral Affairs Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), told Poloff on May 8 that Tanzania would not vote for Belarus as a member on the UN Human Rights Council. "The Government of Tanzania (GOT) is very sensitive on human rights. If a country is on record for failing to protect human rights, then we will not support them. In short, we will not vote for Belarus," Taj explained. ¶2. (C) In addition, Ambassador Taj revealed to Poloff that in 2009, the GOT planned to run as a candidate for membership on the UN Human Rights Council. "We were reluctant to seek membership this year because we felt it was too soon and we were concerned that the Council might end up as a defunct organization. If the Council proves effective, however, then we will most likely seek membership in 2009," Taj stated. Poloff noted that the U.S. had encouraged Tanzania to seek membership in 2007 due to the GOT's commitment to promoting human rights and, said that if such commitment continued, the U.S. would surely support Tanzania's candidacy in 2009. RETZER