Venezuela, Guatemala to seek new UN candidate

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (Reuters) Venezuela and Guatemala have agreed in principle to end their contest for a coveted seat on the UN Security Council but have yet to agree on an alternate candidate, diplomats said.

The UN General Assembly resumed voting today, but results remained inconclusive.

The Venezuelan and Guatemalan foreign ministers intend to meet meet in New York tomorrow morning to try to agree on a consensus candidate for the seat, one of two earmarked for Latin America on the 15-nation council, the diplomats said.

Guatemala is backed by the Bush administration for the two-year seat while Venezuela has painted the race as a battle against Washington and its UN ambassador, John Bolton.

The new developments emerged during a meeting of the 35 Latin American and Caribbean UN members, convened after neither Venezuela nor Guatemala was able to win in 35 ballots held since October 16 in the 192-nation UN General Assembly.

While the two tied in one round, Venezuela trailed Guatemala by more than 20 votes in the 34 others. But Guatemala was never able to attain the required two-thirds majority.

''They accept in principal that they will withdraw their candidacies. But they are not set on a third country,'' Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg told reporters.

''We encouraged them to reach a solution quickly, and we expressed our willingness to go for a consensus,'' he said. ''If they do, our group can then adopt a consensual solution.'' Names of particular new candidates did not come up at the closed-door meeting, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his ally Bolivia would be a good compromise.

BOLIVIA A 'BROTHER NATION' -CHAVEZ ''I and the people of Venezuela would feel worthily represented by comrade (President) Evo Morales and the people of Bolivia, who are a brother nation,'' Chavez told a women's meeting in Caracas today.

But Guatemala's Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal made clear on Sunday that Bolivia was unacceptable. Other nations mentioned for the seat have included Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Latin American diplomats insisted today, however, that the choice should be left to Guatemala and Venezuela.

Chilean UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said Latin American and Caribbean nations would leave the question of a third candidate to the current rivals.

''Any consensus of the Latin American-Caribbean group is based on the agreement between the two candidates, and that is why the meeting of the candidates' foreign ministers tomorrow is so important,'' Munoz said.

Chavez has portrayed the contest as a competition with Washington because of open US lobbying for Guatemala, and has boasted of a moral victory in blocking the US choice.

Although Venezuela is a major US oil supplier, ties have deteriorated, particularly when Chavez said Washington was his No. 1 enemy and called President Bush ''the devil'' in a General Assembly speech in September. Diplomats said that cost him votes.

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