Mozambique Takes Up Security Council Seat
Maputo, 3 Jan (AIM) – As a member of the United Nations Security Council, Mozambique intends to use its own experience in building peace through dialogue “to contribute, in a relevant manner, to the construction of a more peaceful, harmonious and prosperous world”, declared President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday.
This is the day on which Mozambique takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, a position it will hold for the next two years.
There are 15 members of the Council. Five of these (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France) are permanent members with the power of veto. The other ten are elected by the UN General Assembly for two year terms of office.
Mozambique was elected to the Security Council in a unanimous vote of the General Assembly on 9 June. This vote, Nyusi said, “bears witness to the trust and prestige of Mozambique in the concert of nations”.
“Our participation in the Security Council rests on the foreign policy of Mozambique which seeks to affirm the independence and sovereignty of Mozambique, and to project its image as a state with international prestige, which loves peace and freedom, and defends multilateralism in strict observance of the principles and goals enshrined in the United Nations Charter”, the President declared.
The guidelines followed by Mozambique in the Security Council, he continued, would be centred “on safeguarding the interests of Mozambique, of Africa, of developing countries and of the world, in the defence of international peace and security, seeking the promotion of concord and of sustainable development”.
He recognized that the UN faces “strong international challenges, characterized by the return to strategic competition at global level, and the resurgence of threats to international peace and security”. Prominent among these threats were “conflicts between states, terrorism, unconstitutional changes of government, and the disastrous effects of climate change”.
The themes and topics Mozambique is proposing for the Security Council agenda “are urgent”, said Nyusi, and include “the promotion of international peace, particularly peace on our continent; the nexus between climate, peace and security; the role of women and youth in the maintenance of peace; and the fight against terrorism and other evils which threaten international peace and security”.
But Mozambique also intends “to seek greater space for developing countries in international decisions through reforming the multilateral institutions”.
Nyusi recognized that this agenda “requires consensus, courage and firm undertakings”. He pledged Mozambique’s “unconditional commitment” to influencing other members of the Security Council “to bank on multilateralism to make viable the processes that will be analysed by the Council”.
“A high and proactive sense of responsibility and of patriotism is required from us”, he added, so that the objectives of Mozambique’s term of office on the Security Council could be achieved in full.
To obtain the best results, Nyusi pledged to work with teams consisting of “various state and non-state actors, academics and members of civil society, capable of ensuring efficient internal or external coordination”.
Nyusi urged Mozambicans, whether living in the country or in the diaspora, “to feel free to make their contributions to the success” of the country’s tenure of office on the Security Council.
(AIM)
Pf/ (535)