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The United States surprised other members of the UN Security Council on Friday by avoiding a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, they said. diplomats.
Washington’s reversal came a day after it accepted the text, the anonymity negotiators said.
“The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation said, without further details, to the other 14 members of the Security Council, after nearly two months of difficult negotiations over the text.
The latest stalemate continues to leave the world peace and security body largely mute in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic that has killed more than 270,000 people and raised more fears for the world’s most vulnerable.
When asked for an explanation of the US move, a State Department official told AFP that China had “repeatedly blocked commitments that would have allowed the Council to move forward.”
Diplomats told AFP that the language used in the draft to describe the World Health Organization was behind the United States’ move to avoid the vote.
But other sources said Washington wanted the Council to return to an initial draft of the resolution that highlighted the need for “transparency” in global cooperation to deal with the pandemic.
“In our view, the Council should proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or an expanded resolution that fully addresses the need for a renewed commitment by Member States to transparency and accountability in the context of COVID-19, “the official State Department said.
United States President Donald Trump accused the WHO of minimizing the severity of the outbreak in China.
The procedure blocked by the United States would have allowed the resolution’s sponsors, France and Tunisia, to put it to a vote.
The latest version of the text, obtained by AFP, called for a cessation of hostilities in conflict zones and a 90-day “humanitarian pause” to allow governments to better address the pandemic among those most affected.
He called on all nations to “improve coordination” in the fight against the virus and highlighted the “urgent need to support all countries, as well as all relevant entities of the United Nations system, including specialized health agencies and other relevant international, regional and regional organizations. subregional organization “.
This wording, which refers implicitly to the WHO without explicitly mentioning it, was the compromise obtained from the United States and China on Thursday night, according to diplomats.
– ‘Very bad news’ –
Washington had threatened to use its veto if there was any explicit reference to the WHO, while Beijing brandished its own veto if the global health body was not mentioned, before finally accepting that it would not.
Diplomats said the United States had let go of its demand to mention transparency in the Franco-Tunisian text more than a week ago. The “ball was on the Chinese field” now, one of them said earlier.
The change in the United States “is very, very bad news for the United Nations, the Security Council and multilateralism,” said an ambassador for a member of the Security Council.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been pushing for a cessation of hostilities worldwide since March 23, urging all parties to the conflict to lay down their arms and allow war-torn nations to fight the coronavirus.
The French ambassador, Nicolas de Riviere, told AFP that he would like “of course to continue trying to reach an agreement, if there is room for that.”
His Tunisian counterpart, Kais Kabtani, said the discussions continue “to convince the Americans.” He promised to resume the voting procedure.
Ironically, the Security Council also participated on Friday in a major videoconference organized by Estonia, which holds the organization’s rotating presidency this month, on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
More than 50 ministers from around the world participated, most of them issuing a “plea for multilateralism”.
