Libyan charge d’affaires Ibrahim Dabbashi addresses a Security Council meeting discussing Iran’s nuclear program, at the U.N. in New York on March 3, 2008. (UN Photo by Evan Schneider)
(CNSNews.com) – The chilly atmosphere Israel faces in the United Nations General Assembly could drop a few more degrees later this year when a veteran diplomat from Muammar Gadaffi’s Libya is expected to take up the gavel.
 
The African Union (A.U.) has endorsed the candidacy of Ali Triki to become the next president of the 192-member assembly.
 
As the African group is next up for the post – in line with an unwritten system of rotation among the U.N.’s five regional groups – confirmation is not expected to be a problem when Triki comes up for “election” around mid-year. The last time a multi-candidate electoral contest took place was 1991, when a Saudi won a three-way race in a secret ballot vote.
 
Libya is a member of the A.U., the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. Between them the blocs account for almost two-thirds of the full General Assembly membership. A simple majority vote is required for Triki to take up the year-long position.
 
“His candidature has been endorsed at the highest level in the African Union, so there is a consensus on that,” the charge d’affaires at Libya’s mission to the U.N., Ibrahim Dabbashi, told a briefing this week.
 
Triki, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the U.N. and France, currently holds the African Affairs portfolio in the Libyan government.
 
If confirmed, he will succeed Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, a Nicaraguan who served as foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista government in the 1980s.


Libyan charge d’affaires Ibrahim Dabbashi addresses a press conference at the U.N. in New York on March 3, 2009. (UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
D’Escoto’s term, which began last September and runs for one year, has been marked by some controversy, given his public criticism of U.S. policies (“wars of aggression that kill hundreds of thousands of people with the purported aim of supporting democracy”) and of Israel (an “apartheid state” that should be targeted for sanctions).
 
Then U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad reproached him, saying the General Assembly president’s role was to unify members, not to side with some against others. Some organizations supportive of Israel urged the Latin American and Caribbean group at the U.N., which had put D’Escoto forward for the post, to rescind the endorsement.
 
While it is too early to know how a Libyan at the helm would carry out his functions, Libya’s recent record at the world body has drawn some criticism.
 
Libya, represented by Dabbashi, has occupied a non-permanent Security Council seat since January 2008. In that position, it has called Israel a “terrorist regime” and likened it policies to those of the Nazis; objected to the use in a council statement of the term “terrorism” to describe rocket attacks launched against Israel from Gaza; and blocked moves to adopt a council statement criticizing Sudan for actions in Darfur.
 
This week, as Libya began its second one month-long stint in the rotating Security Council presidency, Dabbashi accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and objected to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accused of war crimes in Darfur. (Triki, meanwhile, speaking in his capacity as African Affairs minister, told reporters in Khartoum that A.U. members should withdraw from the ICC over the indictment.)
 
Libya currently holds another important position at the U.N., chairing a 20-nation preparatory committee planning the agenda and “outcome document” for next month’s international racism conference, known as “Durban II,” in Geneva.
 
Controversy has dogged preparations for the event, and the U.S. announced last week it would not take part unless drastic changes were made to the draft document, citing in particular its references to Israel, religious “defamation” and reparations for slavery.
 
A spokeswoman for the Israeli mission to the U.N. in New York said Thursday it was too early to comment on the prospect of a Libyan General Assembly president.
 
Organizations pushing for reforms at the U.N. have suggested changes in the way General Assembly presidents are selected.
 
The Institute for Global Policy, a “civil society organization committed to a
stronger and more democratic United Nations,” has recommended that regional groups establish search committees to ensure that the best qualified candidates go forward.
 
It also suggested that “clear and appropriate criteria” be developed, including multilateral leadership experience, negotiation and consensus-building skills, and political independence.