UN: 62ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION: SOUTH ASIA WRAP

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001210

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/26/2017
TAGS: AF BG CE IN KG KZ NP PHUM PK PREL TI TX
UNGA, UZ
SUBJECT: UN: 62ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION: SOUTH ASIA WRAP

REF: 06 USUN 2279

Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR JEFF DELAURENTIS FOR REASON
1.4 (B & D)

SUMMARY:


1. (U) Joe Melrose served as the Senior Area Advisor for
the 62nd UN General Assembly for South and Central Asia. The
following is his summary of the UNGA as it pertained to South
and Central Asia. The South and Central Asian states did not
provide the drama of some other regions or even of the last
UNGA.

THE GENERAL DEBATE


2. (U) The first two weeks were occupied by speeches
providing general statements of the individual member states'
orientation toward the General Assembly often delivered by
Heads of State or Government or the Foreign Minister. Notable
participants from South and Central Asia included Presidents
Karzai of Afghanistan and the new President of Turkmenistan
Gurbouguly Berdimuhamedow making his first visit to the UNGA
and the first visit by a Turkmenistan Head of State in a
number of years. His predecessor Saparmurat Nyazov passed
away during the last week of last year's General Assembly

ELECTION TO THE UNSC


3. (U) The elections for the non-permanent Security Council
seats proceeded smoothly and without the drama of last year.
The two contests for seats were resolved with the withdrawal
of the other candidates in favor of Costa Rica and Croatia
after only several ballots - a far cry from the protracted
process of last year to select a GRULAC state.

ELECTIONS FOR THE CAT AND IAAC


4. (SBU) The re-election of American candidate Felice Gaer
to the Committee Against Torture (CAT) went well with our
candidiate receiving the highest number of votes. The
election for the newly created Independent Audit Advisory
Committee (IAAC) saw American candidate Comptroller General
of the U.S. David M. Walker defeat the Spanish nominee for
the WEOG seat with 99 votes. SCA countries were strongly
supportive of our candidate with eleven declaring their
support early and one more at the end. Only Uzbekistan
claimed to be awaiting instructions the day of the vote.
Given the results, when compared to our vote tally sheets, it
would appear that SCA countries followed through on their
oral or written commitments in the secret balloting. Posts
may wish to acknowledge this support at an appropriate time.

RAPE RESOLUTION


5. (U) The U.S.-sponsored resolution against rape was passed
by consensus after lengthy informals. Afghanistan was a
co-sponsor and when it appeared that the resolution would
require a vote, a number of SCA countries who felt unable to
vote in favor did agree to abstain or be absent such as
Bangladesh and Turkmenistan. In the end this was not
necessary and the resolution was passed by consensus.


NOTES ON VARIOUS DELEGATIONS


6. (SBU) Afghanistan -- Long serving Perm Rep Raven Farhadi
retired toward the end of the last UNGA and was replaced by
Zahir Tanin. The much younger and more energetic Tanin has
been very active and clearly desires to have Afghanistan be
much more visible in UN fora. He is talking of proposing
Afghani candidates for various commissions, etc. DPR Bazel
also retired during the past year. On the Human Rights
resolutions, Afghanistan supported the resolution on the DPRK
and Belarus but as Tanin stated they were unable to support
resolutions on countries "in their neighborhood" (Iran).


7. (SBU) Bangladesh -- Former Perm Rep Iftekar Chowdhury has
moved on to be "Advisor for Foreign Affairs" (Foreign
Minister) in the current government. His replacement Ms.
Ismat Jahan was, according to Chowdhury, hand-picked by him.
She had served as his Deputy in a previous assignment and he

thinks very highly of her. Jahan is quite well-informed but
not nearly as flamboyant as her predecessor but still quite
active. She advocates strongly for Bangladeshi participation
in UN Peacekeeping Operations and various other activities as
did her predecessor.


8. (C) Bhutan -- Prem Rep Daw Penjo has been extended as his
government goes through the transition to a constitutional
monarchy from a monarchy. He has a good reputation among
colleagues. He does a good job of representing Bhutan's
position on various issues. Within the bounds of his
country's policy of not having an Ambassador to the US, he
tries to maintain a strong, positive relationship. He has
been very active in seeking educational opportunities for
Bhutanese students and relationships between Bhutanese
educational institutions and US and Canadian educational
institutions and the recent changes in F-1 visas for
Bhutanese students was happily received. With regard to the
Country Specific Resolutions, Bhutan voted yes on DPRK and
Belarus (changed from Abstention last year) and abstained on
Iran. Penjo said that he was under great pressure including
threats from some "neighbors" to support Iran. Former Deputy
Perm Rep Penjor is still serving as an advisor to the new
King who will not be officially crowned until 2008. No date
has been set as yet.


9. (SBU) India -- Although Perm Rep Sen is still not
particularly friendly to the U.S. he was much friendlier on a
personal level this year. Deputy Perm Rep Ajai Malhotra,
transferred to NY from Washington a year or so ago, seems
much more favorably disposed and balances Sen to some extent.
As happened last year in back to back conversations with Sen
and Malhotra, subtle differences in tone were clearly
discernible.



10. (SBU) Kazakhstan -- Relatively new Perm Rep Ms.
Byrganym Aitimova is stylistically very different than her
predecessor Kazykhanov who returned to the Ministry.
Kazykhanov is a very experienced UN actor and was part of the
delegation to the General Debate. This was the 13th General
Assembly he attended. In conversations with both Aitimova and
Kazykhanov, they expressed great satisfaction with the U.S.
Kazakhstan relationship. Kazakhstan is clearly pleased with
its current relationship with the U.S. Kazakhstan voted in
favor of the resolution against DPRK.


11. (SBU) Kyrgyzstan -- Perm Rep Jeenbaev seems quite
competent although he relied heavily on Attache Jyldyz
Kasymova who departed just before the General Debate. The
departure of Kasymova, a promising young officer, seems to
have left a void in the Kyrgyzstani delegation. An American
academic who is a pro bono advisor confided that internal
disorganization hampers their efficiency particularly with
Kasymova gone. He expressed his frustration at not being
able to get them to install an answering machine on their
phone.


12. (SBU) Maldives -- Perm Rep Mohammed Lateef was replaced
just before the General Debate began by Iruthisham Adam, a
young officer who has done public diplomacy work in the past.
Her last post was London. The mission has an exceptionally
small staff and concentrates on certain issues. Probably
because of inexperience, Adam is quite tentative. According
to Adam, the Maldives wish to open an Embassy in Washington
in the near future. She was very pleased that the NY Times
listed the Maldives as one of the best places to vacation in
a recent edition. Lateef returned home to become head of the
Civil Service Commission.


13. (C) Nepal -- Perm Rep Madhu Acharya is a solid career
government employee who has been extended in his current
position. He would like to be appointed to a UN position
such as Deputy SRSG some place. During the UNGA, we had
several conversations on the situation in Nepal. He is
optimistic that there will be a breakthrough soon and that he
will be able to submit a letter to the SecGen on behalf of
his government seeking an extension of the UN presence under
the existing mandate. According to him, progress has been
made on at least two of the main areas of disagreement -
abolishing the monarchy immediately, proportional
representation and integration of the fighters into one army.

With regard to the last, he says that there are about
31,000 fighters in cantonments which the Maoists want
integrated into the Army. He says that the Gov. of Nepal
estimates that about 10,000 or so would be disqualified for
age, late registration or other factors and that they can
absorb something in the range 0f 21,000, through early
retirement or other inducements to some of the existing
military personnel. With regard to the Nepalese offer of
troops for Darfur, he says that the offer will remain on the
table until the SecGen accepts it or rejects it. He related
a conversation between himself and the Sudanese PR during
which he says the Sudanese said while they have objected to
Nepalese troops now, they might be acceptable in the next
rotation. Acharya is easily approachable and willing to
discuss the situation in Nepal. Nepal abstained on the
country specific human rights resolutions.


14. (SBU) Pakistan -- There is little more that can be said
about Perm Rep Munir Akram. He is extremely effective and is
totally aware of every issue, even those of minor importance
to Pakistan at the UN. His Deputy, Farukh Amil, transferred
to NY from Washington about a year ago. He is quite
competent and sought his current position because he "wanted
to learn from the best" (Munir Akram).


15. (C) Sri Lanka -- Prem Rep Prasad Kariyawasam is very
active in UN affairs. He is currently one of the
Vice-Presidents of the GA. He has been heavily involved in
small arms issues. As a result, he often delegates various
issues to other members of his mission who may or may not be
as good. He is a strong advocate for Sri Lanka. Counselor
Mahishini Colonne seems to be very competent and enjoys his
confidence. She handles Third Committee issues. Sri Lanka
carried on a very proactive campaign during and after the
General Debate dealing with the issue of Human Rights in Sri
Lanka. In a conversation with the PR, Colonne and Sri Lankan
Minister for Human Rights and Disaster Management, Mahinda
Samarasinghe, the Minister tried to put a positive spin on
every action of the government with regard to Human Rights.
During the half-hour meeting, they stressed that our
information was dated. They noted, among other items, the
Representative on Torture was allowed to visit any place in
the country when he visited.


16. (SBU) Tajikistan -- Perm Rep Aslov is a scientist by
training. This is his first venture into a diplomatic
position and he filled a long vacancy in the Perm Rep
position shortly before last year's UNGA. In addition, his
English is weak so he tends to still be somewhat hesitant to
engage in conversation in English. That being said, he
clearly had more confidence and was more engaged this year as
compared to last. He still has to cover a great deal of
ground with a very limited staff.


17. (C) Turkmenistan - Perm Rep Ataeva is an experienced
UN hand. While she understands English, she prefers to use
Russian. The most striking difference between the last UNGA
and this one was the dramatic change in the atmosphere at the
Turkmenistan Mission. Both Ataeva and DPR Derdyev seemed far
more relaxed and they seemed very pleased, perhaps even proud
of developments in Turkmenistan, including the opening of the
new UN Diplomatic Center and student studying abroad, as well
as the increases in the number of students studying in
Turkmenistan. Ataeva talked about the new President's desire
to be more open. She still relies heavily on her Deputy,
Serdar Durdyev, whose English is improving as is his
confidence. His college-age daughter by a previous marriage
visited NY and is about to return which encouraged him to get
around more. He still seems to have a relatively realistic
view of the problems in Turkmenistan. As the son of a Soviet
era senior diplomat as well as a prior naval career, he is
well-traveled although this is his first time in the U.S. He
was generally supportive of a number of US positions, perhaps
more so than the Turkmenistan voting record would indicate.


18. (SBU) Uzbekistan - The second most striking difference
between the last UNA and this one involved Uzbekistan. While
last year contact with Perm Rep Vohidov was very limited,
although always cordial and professional, this year the first
PR to contact me after my arrival was Vohidov and our
contacts continued on a relatively frequent basis over
coffee, etc. His daughter is an ER nurse at a local hospital

and his granddaughter also stays with him. He seems to be
very closely watched from home. During the General Debate
while his Foreign Minister was here, he was very pleased that
a couple of members of the U.S. delegation accepted his
invitation to a cultural presentation.

COMMENT


19. (SBU) Generally speaking most South and Central Asian
countries do not support country specific HR resolutions
based on the long standing NAM position although they
sometimes abstain. The comments above do not include Plenary
action on the Country Specific Human Rights Resolution on
Burma because as of this writing that had not yet been
considered. If voting in the Plenary follows Third Committee
voting, Kazakhstan will change from an abstention last year
to a yes, joining Afghanistan in the yes column and
Tajikistan will move from not voting to abstaining. The
Maldives will probably not vote. The "No" votes will come
from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The others
will abstain.


20. Part of the modest gains in the Human Rights area among
SCA countries was perhaps the result of better preparation of
materials and a more organized approach among all the various
offices, posts and individuals involved.























































Current Class: CONFIDENTIAL



Khalilzad