US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1128

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
IO/S, IO/T, DHHS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2006 
TAGS: AORC, PHUM, NI, UNCHR, WHO 
SUBJECT: WHO DEMARCHE/LOSS OF CHR SEAT 
 
 
REF: SECSTATE 84094 
 
 
1. (U)  Poloff delivered reftel demarche on May 14 to Nonye 
C. ("Joel") Udegbunam, Minister Counselor in the Second U.N. 
Division at the MFA.  Udegbunam said that as a member of the 
Fifth Committee, he had personally worked on the negotiating 
the reduction in the UN scales of assessment, and said he 
would be returning to New York to participate in the WHA 
later this week.  He asserted that Nigeria would abide by the 
negotiated agreement, and would not support any attempt to 
change the U.S. portion of the WHO scale of assessment. 
 
 
2. (C)  In an aside, Udegbunam mentioned that he was 
"shocked" that the U.S. had lost its seat on the CHR. 
However, he implied that the loss came as no surprise to him: 
he claimed that he had expressed concern to G-77 colleagues 
prior/prior to the vote about what the reaction of the U.S. 
Congress might be to losing the seat.  He asked Poloff if the 
USG had been aware that the Europeans had been actively 
working to deny the U.S. re-election.  Poloff replied that he 
had no persnal knowledge of such an endeavor.  Udegbunam 
acknowledged that Nigeria did not vote with the U.S. on every 
issue during the latest CHR session, but asserted that 
Nigeria had voted for the U.S. to keep its seat on the 
Commission. 
 
 
3. (C)  Comment: Udegbunam said he developed his sensitivity 
to U.S. Conressional views as a member of the Fifth 
Committee.  He said he was in New York, and not in Geneva, as 
CHR-related events unfolded.  Embassy has not had much 
interaction with Udegbunam and does not know hoow accurate 
his recollection of conversations and their exact timing 
might be.  He was, however, a more sympathetic interlocutor 
than Christy Mbonu.  End Comment. 
 
 
 End Comment. 
 
 
Andrews