Egypt officially starts 2-year stint on UN Security Council

Egypt has officially kicked off its two-year term as a non-permanent United Nations Security Council member on Friday, with predictions that it would start its term promoting the causes of some of its troubled neighbors.

This is the first Security Council term for Egypt since 1997, but the fifth term in total.

The country is likely to start its term pushing for a resolution to cancel a 2011 arms embargo on Libya’s government.

Egypt has already asked Security Council member Jordan in February 2015 to propose a draft resolution of the embargo’s lift on behalf of Egypt, but the draft resolution was not adopted.

Other countries selected as non-permanent members for the 2016-2017 term are Senegal, Uruguay, Ukraine, and Japan.

Egypt has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council four times: in 1949-1950, 1961-1962, 1984 and 1996-1997.

In 1961-1962, Egypt supported the independence of African countries and abstained from voting on decisions supporting Israel, and in 1984 it supported the council’s efforts to end Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

source: Ahram Online