The UN Security Council today delayed a vote on sending additional troops to Ivory Coast, where the blue helmeted peacekeepers have been under attack, due to Russian objections, council envoys said.
The 15-nation council had been set to vote on a resolution to send an additional 2,000 peacekeepers to help the 10,000 UN troops and police in the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, known as UNOCI.
But diplomats said Russia raised last-minute objections today about the language and the council instead discussed Sudan. The council president, Bosnian ambassador Ivan Barbalic, later said the Ivory Coast vote would take place tomorrow.
"It's obviously a delay tactic," one diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another diplomat said council members would have to satisfy Moscow's demands in order to get the resolution approved.
"We need Russia on board," the diplomat said. "We have to listen to them."
British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant confirmed that Russia, whose oil giant Lukoil is exploring for crude in Ivory Coast, had issues with the draft resolution. "They want a delay in the vote," he told reporters before the council meeting.
Alassane Ouattara is widely recognized by Western and African governments as president-elect of Ivory Coast, after the electoral commission proclaimed him winner of the November 28th presidential poll. The results were certified by the UN mission but rejected by incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
Mr Gbagbo has refused to resign and retains control of government buildings, state television and the security forces, while Mr Ouattara's parallel administration is based in a UN-guarded hotel under siege by pro-Gbagbo forces.
Russia, like the United States, Britain, France and China, is a permanent veto-wielding council member and can prevent the passage of any Security Council measure.
The French-drafted resolution has already been amended to accommodate Russian objections regarding the explicit naming of Mr Ouattara, diplomats said.
A January 12th draft text welcomed declarations of the African Union and west African regional organization ECOWAS recognizing Mr Ouattara as the president of the world's top cocoa producer. The latest version does not mention Mr Ouattara by name.
Reuters obtained both draft resolutions.
One diplomat said Russia's objections to the language "appeared minor on the surface." The Russian delegation had asked to reorder several paragraphs and add language on "freedom of expression," several diplomats said.
"They're not substantive objections," a diplomat said. "So we're really not sure what they are trying to accomplish. The Russians have been causing problems on Ivory Coast from the beginning because they think we shouldn't take sides."
Reuters