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| UN Security Council (Image: Egyptian Streets) |
Egyptian Streets
- CAIRO: Egypt officially locked a two-year, non-permanent seat on the United
Nations Security Council after 179 of the 193 UN member states voted in favor
of its membership on Thursday.
Egypt was vying
for one of two seats allotted to the Africa Group, while Senegal won the second
seat with 187 votes in its favor. Ukraine, Uruguay and Japan also secured the
three other available seats on the Council, representing the Eastern European,
Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific regions, respectively.
Although the
five countries were running without opposition for the five available seats, UN
protocol dictates that each candidate must secure “yes” votes from at least two
thirds of the present member states in a General Assembly plenary session.
Egypt, which
enjoyed regional support for its bid, was virtually guaranteed the seat but
officials and representatives campaigned heavily in the lead-up to the vote. On
Tuesday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry attended the Security Council
session reviewing resolution 1325 on women and peace and security, where he
spoke of Egypt’s past efforts and future plans to abide by the resolution.
“Women are among
those most vulnerable to terrorism. We will work to give priority to this issue
during our upcoming UNSC membership,” Shoukry said at the session.
On Tuesday
evening, Egypt’s permanent mission to the United Nations hosted 500 guests,
including all UN ambassadors and their spouses, at a gala dinner at the
Metropolitan Museum in New York City. The gala was in honor of Egypt’s
candidacy to the UN Security Council.
Egypt will hold the seat from January 1, 2016
until December 31, 2017. It was last a member of the UN Security Council from
1996-1997.
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