Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal said Monday the
country was open to a possible compromise candidate as the race
with Venezuela for a UN Security Council nonpermanent seat remained
deadlocked, reports reaching Mexico City said.
"The idea of a third candidate has come up in New York and we
are not closed to this possibility," Rosenthal told reporters in
Guatemala City.
However, the foreign minister insisted that Guatemala would
consider backing down from the competition only if Caracas did the
same.
"But we have no intention of stepping down unilaterally. We
would only do so in agreement with Venezuela, with a clear
candidate in mind."
Guatemala and Venezuela are competing for one of the 10
non-permanent seats on the Security Council. South Africa,
Indonesia, Italy and Belgium have been elected to the four other
rotating seats.
After three days and 35 rounds of inconclusive balloting last
week, Guatemala led Venezuela by a margin of 20 to 30 votes in the
192-member General Assembly but still lacked the required
two-thirds majority to win a seat on the 15-nation Council.
Uruguay, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama
have all been mentioned as possible alternatives, said Rosenthal.
"But there is no obvious candidate. And we fear the discussion
could divide the region even more," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)
