Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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Conflicting agendas facing Canada at UN Conflicting Agendas Facing Canada at UN
By Brian Milner The Globe and Mail February 3, 1999 Canada sought yesterday to counter criticism of its compromise to resolve the United Nations impasse over Iraq, insisting it is not a stalling tactic.
The Canadian plan for Iraq, accepted by other members of the Security Council, calls for three panels to evaluate Iraq's weapons systems, its humanitarian needs and other issues arising from the 1991 Persian Gulf war. French diplomats have said the proposal is designed to delay discussion on removing the sanctions against Iraq, which they favour. Iraqi officials have called the move deliberate procrastination.
"Lots of people have said that the panels were a way of delaying the process," Michel Duval, Canada's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said after a press briefing yesterday. "In fact, it will be a delaying process only if we fail to launch the panels and have them work effectively."
Apart from dealing with such hot issues as Kosovo, Iraq, Libyan sanctions and the renewal of peacekeeping mandates in Angola, Macedonia and the Central African Republic, Canada will also focus on the protection of civilians caught in armed conflicts.
Mr. Duval and other Canadian diplomats spent Monday in bilateral talks with representatives of the other 14 members to lay out the council agenda for the month, during which Canada is occupying the president's chair. Mr. Duval is filling in as council president this week for Ambassador Robert Fowler, who is recovering from an emergency appendectomy. He is expected to return to work on Monday.
Canada's plan for Iraq is a framework for continuing discussions of the much-criticized sanctions and the weapons inspections. Yesterday, Mr. Duval denied that it is a way of quietly getting rid of the UN Special Commission set up to monitor Iraqi weapons systems and its controversial chief, Richard Butler. Mr. Butler's term expires in June.
Mr. Duval said that after not being able to make progress in discussions of Iraq since the December attack by U.S. and British warplanes, the council has finally agreed on the Canadian initiative to break the logjam. "We have to devote the first weeks of February to try to reinforce that initiative, and try to avoid falling in the old traps that made the debate a stalemate for so many months."
On Feb. 12, Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy will lead an open discussion in the Security Council on human security issues. Experts on humanitarian issues, including the head of the International Red Cross and a representative from Unicef, will be invited to address the members, Mr. Duval said. The discussion is designed to prepare the ground for further talks on civilian safety issues. It also marks a major thrust by Canada to make the council's deliberations more open and accessible.
But in the meantime, the council will be busy dealing with brush fires flaring up in Africa, the Balkans and elsewhere.
One such problem area is Sierra Leone, where regional peacekeeping efforts have collapsed and UN observers have been removed. The Sierra Leone mandate is up for renewal in March, but Canada hopes to get discussions started on it this month, if it can be squeezed into the crowded agenda, Mr. Duval said.
He also said it was too early to talk about plans for dealing with another African trouble spot, Angola, where neither side wants a continued UN presence and civil war is raging unchecked. "We in the council will be doing everything possible to maintain a UN presence," he said. Canada heads the Security Council committee on Angola, and Mr. Fowler may travel to the region for a first-hand assessment.
