The single most influential country at the UN was Algeria

I was at the UN during the Third World's rise in importance, and they were quite unified in the beginning. Now, of course, they've got their own internal differences. But Iwas there during the period when they were at their maximum of unity, and the Algerians were running it (Non-Aligned Movement); Abdelaziz Bouteflika was their foreign minister. They ran it with a whip hand. They'd have these meetings, and if they had trouble, they'd just stay until after midnight, after some of the more comfortable nonaligned (delegates) had gone home. Then the Algerians would ram their measures through; they would tyrannize some of the milder Africans. I would say there was one year-and I don't think this is too much of an exaggeration- When in many ways the single most influential country at the UN was Algeria: more than ourselves, more than the Russians, more than the British, just because they had this vehicle at their beck and call, and used it. And they were absolutely unscrupulous (as to) parliamentary rulings- not hearing a "no," and that kind of thing.

by W. Tapley BENNETT, Jr. : U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative on the Security Council, 1971-72; and U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 1973-76.

in "Representing AMERICA: Experiences of U.S. Diplomats at the U.N.

by Linda M. FASULO, PP 172-173"