ENB:04:01
[Next] .
[Previous] .
[Contents]
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The Chair then moved to the next item on the agenda, the election of officers. Kjell‚n still had not received a nomination from the Eastern European Group for the position of Rapporteur and he repeated his request for a nomination before the Nairobi session.
Kjell‚n then adjourned the meeting for thirty minutes so that the regional groups might finalize their nominations for the bureaus of the two working groups. After the break, however, only two of the five regional groups had nominations to submit. Kjell‚n proposed that they elect those officers who had been nominated and then reconvene at 5:00 pm to allow the other groups more time to reach agreement. He announced that the nominations from the African Group were Ahmed Djoghlaf (Algeria) as Chair of one of the working groups and Frederick Mallya (Tanzania) as Rapporteur of the other group. Djoghlaf was the Rapporteur of the UNCED Preparatory Committee and Mallya is a counsellor at the Tanzanian Mission to the UN. The Asian Group nominated Iran for the post of Vice-Chair of one of the working groups, but Iran had not submitted a name yet. Kjell‚n proposed that they postpone election for this position until a name was submitted.
Bulgaria, on behalf of the Eastern European Group, said that they were still undertaking consultations for the post of Rapporteur of the Committee and that they will announce their nomination before the Nairobi session. Mauritania expressed the urgency of filling the seats on the bureaus of the working groups and hoped that the Eastern European Group, Latin American Group and Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) would complete their consultations as soon as possible.
After the Committee approved the election of the two Africans, Djoghlaf took the floor to express his thanks and to announce some of the work Algeria has already done with regard to contributing to the negotiating process. Algeria has prepared a national report that takes stock of its experience in combatting desertification. He said that they would like to distribute this report in Nairobi. Furthermore, they have already drafted a preliminary convention and have submitted it to the African group for consideration.
Kjell‚n said that in order to optimize the negotiating process, all countries that want to propose draft text should submit it in writing before 1 July 1993, so that the Secretariat can have all drafts translated in time for the September session. The US, responding to both Algeria and the Chair, thought that delegates should wait until after the information session in Nairobi before rushing into the submission of text. Kjell‚n then adjourned the meeting.
When the sixth meeting of the INC-D reconvened at 5:25 pm, the nomination process had not advanced. Both the Latin American Group and WEOG were unable to reach consensus on their nominations, a Vice-Chair and Chair respectively. Both groups had two candidates vying for each position. France, on behalf of WEOG, suggested that WEOG be given two posts: Chair of one working group and a post in the Bureau of the Djoghlaf Group. Peru responded that the Latin American Group had the same problem but rather than ruin the balance of the bureaus by adding a new position, they think it is more prudent to have negotiations within the regional group so that a single candidate can be presented in Nairobi. Another problem was presented when Bulgaria said that the Eastern European Group would submit a nomination for one Vice Chair position. Kjell‚n responded that there had been an agreement that Eastern Europe would nominate a Rapporteur. Rather than rush into any decisions, Kjell‚n put these issues aside for the moment and gave the floor to Iran who announced that they were submitting the name of Morad-Ali Ardeshiri, the alternate permanent representative of Iran to the FAO, as Vice Chair of one of the working groups.
Algeria then took the floor to suggest that the election process be suspended so that the Chair could undertake consultations during the intersessional period and bring a package to Nairobi regarding the remaining posts to be filled. As there was no opposition to this plan, the Committee elected Ardeshiri to the post of Vice Chair and suspended the election process. The bureaus of the two working groups currently are as follows: Chairs: Ahmed Djoghlaf (Algeria) and vacant (WEOG); Vice-Chairs: Morad-Ali Ardeshiri (Iran) and vacant (Latin America); Rapporteurs: Frederick Mallya (Tanzania) and vacant (Eastern Europe).