SAfrican analyst says Security Council's Iraq debate vital in saving UN.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of article by John Streamlau entitled "South Africa role could save UN's integrity" published by South African newspaper Sowetan on 12 March

The Security Council must prevail, or be reduced to the impotence of the League of Nations in the dramatic war-or-wait scenario over Iraq, and a South African ambassador's initiative may just tilt the balance, writes John Stremlau.

Thanks to Dumisani Khumalo, South Africa's ambassador to the UN, anyone with access to satellite television could see live Friday's [7 March] UN Security Council debate over Iraq. Khumalo won agreement to open the normally closed-door UN debate back in January when he shamed the US and other major powers into allowing it despite their initial refusal.

After all, he rightly argued, decisions by the 15-member Security Council are binding on all 191 countries of …