South Africa wins UN Security Council seat

By IRNA,

Pretoria : After intense diplomatic canvassing, South Africa has won a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).


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On Tuesday, South Africa got 182 votes of the 192-member UN General Assembly meeting, four votes lesser than what it had got in 2007/2008.

The UN General Assembly also elected Germany, India, and Colombia to have a seat in the council for two years, while Canada and Portugal went to a second round of voting.

Each non-permanent country stays on the council for two years, alongside the permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, who have the right to veto any council resolution.

South Africa said it would push for the African agenda and would commit to maintaining international peace and security during its term.

‘If elected to the UNSC, South Africa will be guided by its commitment to multilateralism, advancement of the African agenda and the peaceful resolution of conflicts,’ the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperations said on Monday.

But Miss Maite Nkoana-Mashabaneshe has lately said, in an interview with the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC), that South Africa has surprised many in its first tenure, and outraged some, after it joined Russia and China in allowing the Security Council to consider a relatively mild resolution on human rights issues in Myanmar, whose government was widely seen as one of the most repressive.

She acknowledged that they should have communicated better during that experience.

She said the country had now gained international experience.

South Africa has been canvassing for votes for the UNSC seat – with countries in the African Union, India, United States, Russia and China, supporting it following recent visits by President Jacob Zuma to those countries to promote trade and diplomatic relations.

The elected members take their spots on 1 January 2011.

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