Five African Countries Elected Into U.N. Agency

[Stephen B. Kennedy-IV]

01 Nov 96

Five African Countries Elected Into U.N. Agency

From Segun Adeyemi; PANA correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (PANA) - The United Nations General Assembly has
elected 18 countries, five of them African, to three-year terms each
on the 54-member Economic and Social Council, or ECOSOC.

The countries, which will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 1997, were
elected Thursday. They will fill vacancies being created by the
expiration of the terms of 18 current members of the councilon Dec
31.

The council is responsible for the economic and social activities of
the world body.

Cape Verde, Djibouti, Gambia, Mozambique and Zambia, were endorsed
for the five vacant seats allotted to the African group.

Algeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe were
also on the ballot but were not elected.

Other countries that were elected for the Asian; Eastern European;
Central and South American, Caribbean and Western European and other
states are Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Germany, Iceland,
Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Republic of
Korea (South Korea).

The elections, which went into three ballots in some cases, were
decided by secret ballotting. A two-thirds majority of votes cast is
required for election.

Member states remaining on the council include Argentina, Australia,
Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Central African Republic,
China, Colombia, Congo, Cote D'Ivoire, the Czech Republic, Finland,
Gabon, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon.

Others are Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua,
Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa,
Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom and
the United States.

One third of the 54 members leave every year, at the expiration of
their terms.

[Stephen B. Kennedy-IV]

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