UN strips South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon of rights to vote over arrears – The North Africa Post

The United Nations has revoked the voting rights of six countries, including Equatorial Guidance, South Sudan and Gabon, due to arrears on its operating budget.

These three African countries have lost their right to vote per the charter of the organisation. Members whose arrears exceed or equal the amount they contributed for the previous two years lose their right to vote. But it also gives the General Assembly the authority to decide “that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member,” and in that case a country can continue to vote, the charter states.

The three African countries owe $61,686 (Gabon), $196.130 (South Sudan) or $619,103 respectively (Equatorial Guinea).

Gabon will still be able to vote at the Security Council during its two-year term.

Venezuela’s dues on the other hand amount to $76,244,991, Lebanon’s $1,835,303 and Dominica’s $20,580.

The circular only indicated that the General Assembly decided that three African countries on the list of nations in arrears — Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia — would be able to keep their voting rights.