a596: Haiti loses UN Vote (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Ralph Reid <ralph@gozing.com>

Afghanistan Loses UN Vote Over $4,600 in Unpaid Dues
Thu Jan 31, 6:55 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Twenty countries, including Afghanistan, were
barred Thursday from voting in the U.N. General Assembly this year because
they have fallen too far behind in their dues.


The new Afghan interim government, installed just last month after more than
20 years of internecine war, is virtually broke and counting on
international aid to keep it afloat while it tries to rebuild.

It owes the United Nations $4,600 in regular budget and peacekeeping
assessments.

The General Assembly is the United Nations' main deliberative body, composed
of representatives of all 189 U.N. member-nations. Each member normally has
one vote.

Most of the countries too far in arrears to vote are in Africa, including
Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and
Principe, Seychelles and Somalia.

Others include Iraq in the Middle East, the Caribbean nations of Dominica
and Haiti, Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,
and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Iraq, which owes $12.4 million, has not paid because of the stringent U.N.
sanctions imposed on it in 1990 over its invasion of neighboring Kuwait.

Another four countries -- Burundi and Comoros in Africa and Georgia and
Moldova in Eastern Europe -- were allowed to keep voting despite big unpaid
dues bills, on grounds their failure to pay was due to conditions beyond
their control.