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ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua)
-- Ethiopia’s presidency of
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in September will
focus on resolution of conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan
and the Great Lakes region.
Speaking to
Xinhua on Tuesday, Meles Alem, Spokesperson of Ethiopian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said as part of
efforts to resolve these conflicts the country will host
a meeting in September 7 and 8 in Addis Ababa of the
UNSC member states.
Ethiopia is
already mediating in particular the conflicts in South
Sudan and Somalia through the regional body
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), of
which all three countries are members.
Ethiopia
will also host a meeting in September 20 on efforts to
boost UN peacekeeping forces numbers and capability.
The East
African nation is currently the largest peacekeeping
contributing nation in Africa and is among top four
peacekeeping forces contributing nations globally.
These
include the UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), UN
Mission in Liberia (UNML), UN Mission in the Republic of
South Sudan(UNMISS), and UN Operations in Cote d’Ivoire
(UNOCI) as well as the UN Interim Security Force for
Abyei (UNISFA) in which Ethiopia is providing all of the
4,400 troops deployed in Abyei, between Sudan and South
Sudan.
Ethiopia
will assume the presidency on the United Nations
Security Council next month from fellow UN Security
council member Egypt.
Ethiopia
took its seat as a non-permanent member of the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January after
securing 185 votes out of the 190 vote election in June
last year.
The
non-permanent seat at the UNSC is given for a two year
period for 10 of the 15 member states represented in the
UN body, with Ethiopia expected to serve the 2017-18
period.
This is the
third stint for Ethiopia being a UN Security Council
non-permanent member having served on two other periods
from 1968-69 and 1989-90. |
