THE UN Security Council today begins its scrutiny of the new African candidates for the post of secretary general following Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali's suspension of his candidacy.
Four African candidates have been nominated and others are expected to be added to the list for today's meeting in New York. Whether any of them can secure a majority of the 15 member council and at the same time avoid a veto by one of the five permanent members - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - remains to be seen.
Those submitted by the end of last week were: Mr Kofi Annan of Ghana (58), the UN under secretary general in charge of peacekeeping; Mr Amara Essy (52), foreign minister of the Ivory Coast; Mr Ahmedou Ould Abdallah (56), of Mauretania and former UN special envoy for Burundi; and Mr Hamid Algabid of Niger (55), of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Others likely to be submitted for today's meeting are: Mr Salim Salim of Tanzania, head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU); Mr Moustapha Niasse, foreign minister of Senegal; Mr Wally N'Dow of Gambia, who headed this year's UN Habitat Conference in Istanbul; and Mr Olara Otunnu, born in Uganda, head of the New York based World Peace Academy, and now a citizen of the Ivory Coast.
Mr Annan would be seen as the unofficial US candidate because of his record in improving UN peacekeeping efforts. However, his lack of fluency in French could lead to a veto from France.
South Africa has nominated Mr Salim but President Mandela revealed at a news conference at the weekend that President Chirac of France told him he will veto the OAU secretary general because he is not fluent in both English and French. The US vetoed Mr Salim 15 times in 1981 when he was also a candidate for his perceived anti US views.
France is believed to favour Mr Amry Essy, foreign minister of the Ivory Coast. He has extensive UN experience as a former ambassador to the international organisation and he also served a term as president of the General Assembly. Language may also be a problem for Mr Essy, who is fluent in French but speaks only rudimentary English.
The task of the Security Council, under the presidency of the Italian ambassador, Mr Francesco Fulci, is to reduce the list of candidates through confidential straw polls before taking a formal vote.
While Dr Boutros Ghali has only suspended his candidacy following the US veto on him last month, he is unlikely to re enter the race. Mr Mandela said that he had tried several times to persuade President Clinton to lift the US veto on the former Egyptian diplomat but without success.
There is still the possibility that none of the African candidates will achieve sufficient support while avoiding a permanent member veto. In that case the succession would be thrown open to a non African and the names of frequently mentioned possible candidates, including the President, Mrs Mary Robinson, would again come into the reckoning.
Time is running out if the Security Council is to have a recommendation for the General Assembly before it ends its session on December 17th. Dr Boutros Ghali's term expires at the end of this year.