South Africana

South Africa's presence is very strongly felt. I will not report on Nelson Mandela's statement, read out by an official representative.
Next, SA's foreign minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (ex-wife of Jacob Zuma) nominated the Kenyan Amos Wako as president in the name of the African group, seconded by Cuba and India. No alternative proposals (surprise, surprise).

Of course the whole conference is mostly a choreographed end point to a long process, as Ronald Eissens untiringly points out in his reports from Geneva (see ICARE link on the right). Still, it is interesting to see how the official representatives are reacting to the boycott by many Western states, and how exactly their performance of unanimity is staged.

Given the absence of major players such as the US, it is also interesting to compare the conference with Cold War-era meetings such as the non-aligned movement. Ironically, the heavily-felt presence of Third World countries is a sign of the conference's weakness.

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I am now running out of battery power (no outlets in the pre-laptop age conference room...) and blood caffeine, so blogging will stop for a while. Back soon, I hope.