WHOSE IN CHARGE ?

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL

On the 17th March 1970, The United States cast its first veto in the United Nations Security Council during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, when Henry Kissinger was national security adviser. Quite a moment, since the Council started sitting in 1946 and the United States had not once used its power of veto, whilst the USSR had used it well over 100 times.

The use of that veto was in support of the United Kingdom, which was under considerable Security Council pressure to end the white minority government in Rhodesia. At least that's what it appeared to be a the time. On reflection I'm not convinced. There was clearly another agenda in respect of getting round sanctions and the United State's ability to import chrome, ferrochrome and nickel from Rhodesia. But that's another story.

What is significant about this matter is that it draws attention to the Council and its function. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), one of the principal organs of the UN, is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the UN Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorisation of military action. Its powers are exercised through UNSC Resolutions. The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House in London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, and has its current permanent home in the UN Building in New York.

There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time.

The 'power of veto' refers to the veto power wielded solely by the five permanent members, enabling them to prevent the adoption of any 'substantive' draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft. The veto does not apply to procedural votes, which is significant in that the Security Council's permanent membership can vote against a 'procedural' draft resolution, without necessarily blocking its adoption by the Council. The veto is exercised when any permanent member — the so-called ''P5" — casts a "negative" vote on a 'substantive' draft resolution. Abstention, or absence from the vote by a permanent member does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted.

The current additional ten members, who are at present entrusted with dealing, amongst other matters, with the world crisis in North Africa and the Middle East are: Bosnia/Herzegovina, Brazil, Columbia, Gabon, Germany, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal and South Africa.

Despite the present rhetoric about no-fly zones and on the ground military activity, from the UK, France and now the US and certain opinionated pundits and back bench politicians, it is totally within the UNSC's remit to decide on and authorise peacekeeping operations, sanctionsand military action.

[Why the BBC should interview or seek opinion on these matters from the likes of David Davis MP (whose only real experience is selling sugar for Tate & Lyle - any experience under John Major was a short lived joke and as Chairman of Public Accounts he clearly failed, given the expenses scandal) is beyond me. For him to suggest that implementing a no-fly zone is a doddle and that there is no need to wait for UN resolutions is unbelievable(The World at One BBC 4 17/3/2011).]

So who are the people, the representatives that discuss and pronounce on these issues:

Ivan Barbalic - Bosnian and Herzegovinian diplomat serving as Permanent Representative to the UN. Born 1975 in Sarajevo, is 36 years old. He is the nephew of his country's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Married. Graduated from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut and interdisciplinary postgraduate study on Human Right in Sarajevo. He has been active in the Non Governmental sector. Was also a song writer. He was President of the UNSC in January 2011.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (born on March 27, 1954 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil) 57 year next week, is the Permanent Represnetative of Brazil. Viotti was the President of the UNSC for the month of Feb 2011. She is married to Eduardo Baumgratz Viotti and has a son. Viotti has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Brasilia, which she received in 1979. She has a post-graduate degree in the same subject, which she completed in 1981, from the same university. She attended the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian diplomatic academy.

Néstor Osorio Londoño is the 27th Permanent Representative of Columbia. An administrative lawyer, he has also served as 1st Permanent Representative of Colombia to theWorld Trade Organisation in Geneva from 1995 to 1999, and as 4th Executive Director of the International Coffee Organisation from 2002 to 2010, where he had represented Colombia since 1978 when he was named Alternate Delegate and later becoming head of mission and Permanent Representative until 1994. After leaving WTO, he worked for the Colombian Government as High Advisor for Coffee Policy from September 2000 until his election as Executive Director of the ICO.

Franck Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet (born 2 April 1961) 50 this year, is a Gabonese diplomat and political figure. He was Gabon's Permanent Representative to the UN from August 2008 to January 2009. Afterwards he served in the government of Gabon as Minister of Energy, Hydraulic Resources, and New Energies from January 2009 to June 2009 and then briefly as Minister of Relations with Parliament and the Constitutional Institutions in mid-2009. He was again appointed as Permanent Representative to the UN in November 2009. In March 2010, Issoze-Ngondet was the President of the UNSC. He is married with five children.[2] He wrote a French language novel, An Ascetic in theCourt (Un Ascète dans la cour), which was published in 2007. A career diplomat, he speaks English in addition to French.

Peter Wittig (11/8/1954 ) age 57, is a German diplomat and, since 2009 the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UN. After schooling, he completed a degree in history, political science and law at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn, the Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg, University of Canterbury and University of Oxford. After graduation and completion of doctoral 1979-1982 he was Assistant Professor at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and author of articles on the subjects of intellectual history and foreign policy. In 1982 he entered the diplomatic. After various training posts he was appointed to his embassy in Lebanon and then in Cyprus. During this period he was also commissioner of the Federal Government for the Cyprus Conflict. In 2002 he was ambassador in Nicosia then and first Ambassador and Deputy Head of the United Nations and Global Issues. He then in 2006 was head of GF (Global Issues, United Nations, Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid) of the Foreign Office. In December 2009 he was appointed to its Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York City

Hardeep Singh Puri is an Indian diplomat currently representing India to the UN. He is a 1974 batchIndian Foreign Service officer. Prior to that, he had done his graduation and post-graduation from Delhi University and worked as a Lecturer at St.Stephen's College, Delhi. He has held important diplomatic posts in Brazil, Japan, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom. Between 1988 and 1991, he was appointed the Coordinator of UNDP/UNCTAD Multilateral Trade Negotiations Project to help Developing Countries in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. Currently Permanent Representative to the UN from 2009, a post he has held before. 2008-2009 Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi
. 2006-2008 Ambassador of India to Brazil
. 2002-05 Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva
. 1999-2002 Ambassador/Deputy High Commissioner of India tothe United Kingdom
. 1997-1999 Joint Secretary (Europe West), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi
. 1994-97 Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi

Nawaf Salam (Arabic: نواف سلام, born December 15, 1953) age 58, is a Lebanese diplomat, academic, and jurist. He is currently serving as Lebanon's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York. Son of Abdallah Salam and Reckat Beyhum, Nawaf was born into a prominent family from Beirut, Lebanon. His grandfather, Selim Salam, the leader of the “Beirut Reformist Movement,” was elected deputy of Beirut to the Ottoman parliament in 1912. His uncle, Saeb Salam, fought for Lebanon’s independence from the French Mandate of Lebanon and subsequently served four times as Prime Minister of Lebanon between 1952 and 1973. He is married to the journalist Sahar Baassiri and has two sons, Abdallah and Marwan. Salam received a doctorate in Political Science from the Institut d'Etudes Politique de Paris (1992), an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School (1991), and a doctorate in History fromSorbonne University, Paris(1979).

Joy Uche Angela Ogwu (born August 23, 1946) age 65, is a former Foreign Minister of Nigeria. She was the second woman to hold the post in the historyof Nigeria. Prior to her ministerial career, Dr. Joy Ogwu, who is from Delta State, served as Director–General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). Ogwu has advised the UN on disarmament issues and has published books promoting more African ties to Latin America. She is the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research UNIDIR). She was appointed Foreign Minister on August 30, 2006. Joy Ogwu is currently the Nigerian Ambassador to the UN. Her appointment was announced in April 2008.Joy Ogwu was the President of the UNSC in July 2010. She is currently the President of the Executive Board of the UN Women Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Ogwu obtained her BA and MA in Political Science from Rutgers University, United States. She later received her Ph.D. from the University of Lagos in Nigeria. While obtaining her Ph.D. in 1977, she joined the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Lagos.

José Filipe Mendes Moraes Cabral has been appointed Portugal's Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 30 October 2008 and has taken up his new position on 1 December 2008.

 Prior to his appointment to New York he was Ambassador to Spain (2004-2008). 

From 2001 to 2004 he was the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic Jorge Sampaio with whom he has previously worked, as Diplomatic Adviser, from 1996 to 1999.

 From 1999 to 2001 he was Ambassador to Israel. 

Between 1994 and 1996 he headed the Office of the Director-General for Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon and was the Portuguese Representative in the Working Group for former Yugoslavia at the EU.

Between 1982 and 1991 he held diplomatic assignments in Ottawa, Rabat, Riyadh (as Chargé d’Affairs en pied) and Brussels (Permanent Mission to the EU).

José Filipe Moraes Cabral joined the Portuguese diplomatic service on 1979. 

Before he had assignments at the Presidency of the Republic (in the Office for Cooperation and in the Civil House during the tenure of President António Ramalho Eanes) and at the Office of the Secretary of State for External Cooperation.

José Filipe Moraes Cabral graduated in Political and Diplomatic Science at the University of Brussels.

Ambassador Moraes Cabral was born on 6 December 1950, in Lisbon. 

He is married to Lydia Reinhold and they have three grown-up children

Here is video containing and interview with Senor Cabral, charing the Libyan Sanctions Committee, from this month 9th March 2011;

Today is also the second anniversary of Mr Baso Sangqu's appointment as Permanent Representative for South Africa.

Baso Sangqu, age 43, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations since 17^th March 2009. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Sangqu was Deputy Permanent Representative from 2007, having previously been South Africa’s Ambassador to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between November 2002 and 2006.While working as Acting Chief Director for Economic Development, Multilateral Development and Cooperation in the Department of Foreign Affairs between October 2001 and 2002, Mr. Sangqu also served as Head of the Substance Unit for the ( Johannesburg) World Summit on Sustainable Development from February 2001 to 2002.From July to October 2001, he was Acting Chief Director for Marine, Environment, Science and Technology, Multilateral Development and Cooperation. He was appointed Director for Social and Economic Programmes, African Multilateral Development and Cooperation upon joining the Department of Foreign Affairs in October 2000.His previous Government service included appointments as a Policy Analyst and Research Consultant, in the Economic and Development Section of the Office of the President, from March to July 2000, and Chief Education Specialist in the National Department of Education from January 1996 to May 1998.Mr. Sangqu holds a Master’s degree in development economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Bachelor’s degree in commerce (economics and commercial law) from the University of Transkei. Born on 21 April 1968, in Idutywa, Eastern Cape Province, he is married and has three children.

These are the people who confer with the foreign ministers of the big five. No exactly a shabby bunch. All high achievers with an average age of about 52, so they are all firmly educated in the last half of the 20th Century. They would have mainly been to University between 1975 and 1985. They are not children of the 1960's, although they would have seen it unfold as children watching whatever television they could. It is their time to deal with protest. Let us hope they do it well. More should be heard from them. Why are not the BBC seeking them out, rather than ridiculous interviews with the likes of David Davis.

I was also today reminded by a friend that on the 17th March 1948, William Gibson was born in Conway South Carolina.

William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" and later popularized the concept in his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). In envisaging cyberspace, Gibson created an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. He is also credited with predicting the rise of reality television and with establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as video games and the World Wide Web. Happy Birthday William!!