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Saturday, September 27, 2003
RP poised to win UN Security Council seat: Glo
By Miko Santos
MANILA -- President Arroyo said she expects the Philippines to win a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, after meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York where she is on a working visit.
"We expect to be elected," the President said over state-owned radio, noting that even Annan "in his conversation presumed it because he talked about the expectations for us in the Security Council."
If elected to the Security Council during a vote on October 23, the Philippines would replace Syria as one of two representatives of the Asian group. The other representative is Pakistan.
Responding to a request from the United Nations, Arroyo said the Philippines would be sending up to 500 peacekeeping troops to Liberia to help rebuild the strife-torn West African nation.
"We will help in Liberia. We'll be sending peace-keeping forces," Arroyo told Philippine media in New York, where she is attending the UN General Assembly.
The Philippines has contributed military and police personnel to augment other peacekeeping forces in Cambodia, Haiti, Kosovo, East Timor and Iraq.
Ambassador Lauro Baja, the country's permanent representative to the United Nations, said the Philippines is confident of getting a seat in the security council.
"We are now in the substantive preparations for the membership. We want to have an active and meaningful participation in the Council," Baja said.
The Philippines was a non-permanent member of the UN council in the 1960s, and again in 1980-81, added Baja.
If elected for the third time, the term will be for the year 2004-2005.
Baja said the Philippines received the endorsement from other Asian countries.
Baja said the country's track record in the UN has been recognized and acknowledged, particularly in the Committee on Economic Matters, and the Committee on Human Rights and Gender Issues.
The Philippines, he added, was chosen chairman of the UN Sixth Committee, which was tasked to thresh out legal matters, during the current session. This, in itself, was a great honor, he added.
The Security Council recently approved some 15,000 peacekeepers for Liberia to help implement a ceasefire to end the country's bloody civil war.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Ethiopia, Namibia and Ireland had already committed soldiers to the UN mandated operations.
Some 200,000 individuals have died in 14 years of almost non-stop fighting that began when former President Charles Taylor launched a rebellion in 1989 in the West African country.
(September 27, 2003 issue)
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