Jordan's UN envoy withdraws from UN leader race

United Nations, Oct 5: Jordan's UN Ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, withdrew from the race for UN secretary-general after Security Council members made clear South Korea's foreign minister would get the job.

Mr Zeid, a widely-respected diplomat, whose candidacy touched off a dispute between Jordan and Qatar, wrote a letter to the Security Council, circulated yesterday, saying that his government was withdrawing his nomination.

The fifteen council members in an informal ballot on Monday gave South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon 15 favorable votes and one abstention in the competition to succeed Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose term expires on December. 31.

On October. nine the council will vote formally and send the winning candidate's name to the 192-member UN General Assembly for approval, which usually follows within a week.

Jordan recalled its ambassador from Doha on Tuesday to protest the failure of Qatar, the only Arab member of the council, to support Zeid, saying the Gulf nation broke an Arab accord to back the prince, the only Muslim in the race.

But Qatar's foreign ministry contended it had told Jordan and other Arab nations it would support Ban or Thailand's deputy prime minister, Surakiart Sathirathai.

Council members could vote for as many candidates as they pleased. Zeid dropped to two positive votes in a fourth straw poll on Monday.

A successful contender needs nine votes in favor and no veto from the 15-member body's permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. Ban alone escaped a negative vote from any of the five.

Shortly after the vote, Shashi Tharoor of India, the UN undersecretary-general for public information, withdrew from the race, saying it was clear Ban would be the eighth UN secretary-general. Tharoor was in second place with ten positive votes but a veto from one of the five permanent members.

Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, a former UN disarmament undersecretary-general, withdrew last week after a poor showing in the third informal poll.

Still in the race among the seven original contenders are Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the only woman and non-Asian candidate; Sathirathai, whose country underwent a coup in September; and former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, the last to enter the competition in late September.

Reuters