A World Is Glimpsed

• Kamlesh Sharma: Asia and Africa stood solidly behind India's candidate. He polled 39 votes in the first ballot.
  
• Michael Frendo: Got 9 votes. Those who supported him included Cyprus, two Caribbean countries, two Pacific nations and New Zealand.
  
• Mohan Kaul: After creating some initial confusion, he dropped out as he wasn't a candidate of any country

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here was more relief than rejoicing on Air India One as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew back from Uganda with a foreign policy success in his pocket—the election of seasoned diplomat Kamlesh Sharma as the new secretary-general of the Commonwealth. Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, whose team burnt the midnight oil for Sharma's success, seemed relieved the contest was over. "We knew we had to do it in six months and it was possible to concentrate the effort. We had to carry Asia and Africa," Menon told Outlook. "We made a conscious decision and made it early enough." As he savoured the victory, he noted there had not been an Indian elected to run a political organisation such as the Commonwealth for a while. But he was already thinking of the next big battle—the contest to win a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council in 2010. "The Commonwealth election was part of constituency-building. We have to prioritise our levels of engagement."

The victory was much needed after a string of failures to get prominent Indians elected to prominent places in international organisations. The memory of Shashi Tharoor's failed bid to become the first Indian UN secretary-general was still raw. Most recently, Union finance minister P. Chidambaram tried but failed to become the first Indian to head the top policymaking body of the International Monetary Fund because of desertion by Nigeria and the tendency of the US to stick with the Europeans.

There have been other major disappointments, including when India's efforts to expand the UN Security Council to become a permanent member hit a dead-end in 2005, and when an earlier attempt in 1996 to win a non-permanent seat in the Security Council against Japan crashed completely. So this time it was a fight to win with an all-out campaign—coordinated and focused unlike previous attempts. Time, energy, money and institutional support were in plenty as were the lessons learnt from the past.

Although the prime minister is not a fervent supporter of the idea of Indians fighting for international jobs too often—he had reportedly advised Chidambaram against running for the IMF position—he did put his prestige on line for Sharma's election by writing to all member countries. Last week, he personally canvassed for support in the final round when Commonwealth leaders went into retreat without aides to choose the winner. Sources said the Indian candidate got an overwhelming majority of 39 votes in the first ballot, prompting the host, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, to declare Sharma the winner.

Although victory was expected after 36 letters of support ahead of the summit, the final days were not without tension. Sharma's main opponent, the Maltese foreign minister, Michael Frendo, was able to lobby with fellow foreign ministers at gatherings to which the Indian candidate was not invited since he was only a high commissioner. An extrovert to Sharma's rather aloof personality, Frendo's voice in the end got a little too loud for small nations as he vociferously argued for Pakistan's suspension from the Commonwealth a day before the summit.

ndia's campaign for Sharma was a good dress rehearsal for bigger shows because it involved lobbying small, big, rich and poor nations in capitals, at summits, on the sidelines and at the UN in New York—the only place where many tiny countries have representatives. If Sharma's victory as Commonwealth secretary-general was a balm after the Tharoor disappointment, a non-permanent seat on the Security Council will be a small band-aid for a permanent seat. Realists know that forcing the expansion of the UN Security Council to make India a permanent member is a distant goal because the five permanent members (US, Britain, China, Russia and France) are unlikely to agree to enlarge the club. They will plead extraneous reasons, bribe and bargain with weaker member states and cause slow death of the idea year after year. It seems the realisation has sunk in at South Block.

So two simultaneous campaigns are under way—one for a spot for India in the old order and one for space in the future order. India has already begun lobbying for support for a non-permanent seat in 2010 in the UN corridors in New York while also pushing for the expansion of the UN Security Council to make it more representative. India has again aligned with South Africa and Brazil to push for Security Council expansion. More than 125 countries voted in the UN General Assembly in September to support the resolution with inter-governmental negotiations set to begin soon, officials in New York said. With two-thirds of the UN member states supporting the idea for more democracy in the UN's decision-making body, this resolution may go farther than before, but whether it will break down the resistance of the five veto-wielding powers is another question.

Then there is the "coffee club" to consider—a group of countries whose sole aim is to thwart expansion simply because they are not candidates for permanent seats. Pakistan opposes India's bid, Italy is against Germany's inclusion and Argentina is against Brazil. The coffee club members insist on "consensus" before proceeding on the idea of expansion—an impossible goal since they themselves block it.

Africa once again holds the key in both campaigns just as it did the last time when dissension among African countries fomented by a permanent member destroyed the effort for Security Council expansion. India is definitely courting Africa with vigour after losing sight of the big continent in the 1990s with few visits, little interaction and downsizing of missions to feed new ones in Israel and Central Asia. A big summit for African leaders is being planned in New Delhi next year to assure them that India is an old friend and a new partner for development. Its help, whether in installing the pan-African e-network connecting schools and hospitals to those in India or sending Indian experts in times of need, comes without too many strings.

As Anand Sharma, Union minister of state for external affairs in charge of the region, said in Kampala: "We didn't arrive in Africa a few years ago like some other countries. We've supported anti-colonial struggles. Today we are willing to share our technology and resources." He lobbied hard with African countries in the run-up to the Commonwealth election, ensuring the Indian candidate's emergence as a frontrunner. Beaming with pride after the positive outcome, he talked of "multiplying" India's engagement with Africa across the board—bilaterally with governments and multilaterally with African institutions.

It now remains to be seen whether the engagement with Africa remains consistent and weight-bearing until 2010 and beyond.