UPDATE: Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Prof. Kabudi Palamagamba, on Wednesday, June 24, cleared the air over recent allegations that the East African nation had voted against Kenya in the 2020 UN Security Council elections.
"My President John Mapombe Magufuli indeed sent me to his Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta and among the messages I was sent to deliver was that Tanzania would not only vote for Kenya, but would also actively participate in campaigning for our neighbour to clinch the seat.
"We voted for Kenya during both rounds of voting and the Kenyan government even reached out to thank Tanzania for our vote. Anyone spreading news to the contrary is a liar," he asserted.
Kenya historic clinching of a seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was marred by fake news with a list of countries that voted in the poll dismissed by a source in the UN.
Chapter XI of the UN Security Council Provisional Rules of Procedure notes that votes are not administered by the UNSC as per the fake list doing rounds.
"Any meeting of the Security Council held in pursuance of the Statute of the International Court of Justice for the purpose of the election of members of the court shall continue until as many candidates as are required for all the seats to be filled have obtained in one or more ballots an absolute majority of votes," states the UNSC rules.
UN Director at Crisis Group, Richard Gowan also debunked the list that had taken social media by storm on Thursday, June 18, after the results were announced.
"Beware these UNSC election "results". UNSC votes are secret, they are administered by the United Nations President of General Assembly (not the UNSC as this note suggests) and there is no "Rule 83 of the UNSC Rules of Procedure," he stated.
Gowan went on to reveal that one of the countries present in the list purported to be a document of the nations that voted was not a member state of UNSC.
"One more top tip to those faking UNSC election results sheets. Kosovo is not a UN Member State," noted the UN Source.
The list had sparked outrage after it showed Tanzania and Uganda had voted for Djibouti in the second round of voting.
Another bone of contention in the list was the fact that despite having close ties with China, the Asian nation went ahead to back Djibouti.
UN Member States elected Kenya in a second round of voting on Thursday in the General Assembly, with 192 ambassadors casting their ballots during pre-determined time slots, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The run-off took place a day after elections to select five new non-permanent members to serve on the Council, based on regional groupings.
In the first round of voting, Kenya garnered 113, while direct rival Djibouti managed to secure 78 of the votes.
A total of 192 votes were cast, with only 1 declared an invalid ballot. Djibouti, which made a late lunge for the post, registered 62 votes.
