Kenya seems to have suffered a huge blow a day to the UNSC non-permanent seat vote in New York.
In a note to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Tuesday, the General Secretariat asked the member states to support Djibouti in the election.
“… the OIC General Secretariat wishes to request the support of all member states for the Republic of Djibouti’s candidacy in a spirit of solidarity and joint Islamic action,” the note verbale dated June 16 read in part.
The note referred the note verbale no. 002275, dated on July 14, 2019, regarding endorsement of Djibouti’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council or the term 2021-2022 for the African Group.
The OIC has 57 members, 26 being from Africa.
These are Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda.
Reacting to this, Djibouti’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mohamed Siad Doualeh tweeted, #Djibouti grateful to the #OIC Member States for their wholehearted support to our country in its bid for a non-permanent seat to #UNSC for 2021-2022.”
Kenya, however, is banking on African Union’s endorsement, which Djibouti has dismissed.
Membership between the OIC on the continent overlap with the AU’s.
Some of OIC’s member states such as Algeria have publicly endorsed Kenya for the non-permanent seat. Libya is not eligible to vote after it was suspended in 2011 for human rights violations.
Kenya is officially Africa Union’s endorsed candidate after an election in Ethiopia in which Nairobi garnered 37 votes against Djibouti’s 13 in a second round of voting. Djibouti has, however, contested it.
It claims the endorsement ignored the principle of rotation, which would have favoured Djibouti.
“Djibouti is of the opinion that the Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union, which decided on the vote, is an organ that is not authorised to do so.”
“In law, there is an established principle that any decision made by an entity not competent to do so should be considered null and never be depended on, and is incapable of creating any law,” Djibouti Embassy in Nairobi said in a statement.
