Botswana abstains on General Assembly Crimea resolution

Staff Writer | Wednesday April 2, 2014 11:17

 

The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 100 in favour to 11 against, with 58 abstentions.

In explaining Botswana’s decision to abstain, Ambassador Charles Thembani Ntwaagae affirmed that while the Government of Botswana does not support the dismemberment of sovereign nations, either through unilateral declarations of independence or through coercion by external forces, it believed that at the moment there is a need to allow sufficient space for currently ongoing diplomatic efforts at the bilateral and international levels to take its course.

In addition to Botswana other countries that abstained included: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Guyana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, and Sudan voted against the resolution.