The Bolivarian Alternative for the People’s of Our America, known as ALBA, totally oppose giving Libya’s UN seat to the NTC. ALBA countries include: Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda. Hugo Chavez predicts that a hot debate over Libya will occur in the UN General Assembly.
Countries belonging to a Latin America trade group oppose giving Libya’s U.N. member seat to the NATO-led rebels who fight the Jamahiriya government, the Venezuelan ambassador said in a Wednesday letter to the new General Assembly president.
Ambassador Jorge Valero wrote to General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser that foreign ministers of the countries in the ALBA group agree that Libya’s United Nations seat should not be occupied by “an illegitimate transitory authority imposed by foreign intervention.”
Rather, they say, the seat should not be filled until “a legitimate government is established” that “reflects the free and sovereign will of the Libyan people.”
Diplomats who have close ties with the NATO-rebels’ National Transitional Council, have continued to staff the country’s U.N. mission offices.
The General Assembly’s new credentials committee agreed by consensus on Wednesday to recommend that the rebels’ council get Libya’s seat, said a U.S. official, whose country sits on the committee. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed. It is unclear what this committee is, nor could it have legitimacy, as the vast majority of the world still recognizes the legal Jamahiriya government.
The letter of opposition by regional group increases the likelihood that a formal vote call on the matter will be needed, rather than a simple consensus, when the General Assembly acts on the request in the coming days.
The NATO-rebels’ council has been recently recognized by governments which are under the control of international bankers, but more than 80% of the world still recognizes the legal Jamahiriya democratic government.
The government headed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has remained steadfast in its longtime support of Libyan leader Gadhafi and the Jamahiriya.
The foreign ministers of the other ALBA countries — Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda — traveled to Caracas last week to discuss the situation in Libya.
Chavez said Wednesday that he foresees lively discussions in this month’s U.N. General Assembly over Libya.
Chavez, a friend and strong defender of Gadhafi, said the assembly would be hotly debating “the Libyan issue, the war, the genocide in Libya.”
Mathaba Editing of Washington Post article.
