Egypt wins non-permanent UNSC seat

By Abdelhamid Mahmoud
@HAMIDMAHMOUD12

Egypt secured its seat as a non-permanent member for the United Nations Security Council in New York Thursday.

After a secret ballot voting process in the General Assembly, Egypt’s bid for the seat received 179 votes.

Representing North Africa in the Security Council, Egypt joins Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay as the new non-permanent members of the 15-member Security Council.

China, France, Russia, the UK and the US are permanent members of the Council and retain veto power.

Nabil Fahmy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, previously told The Caravan that Egypt had “almost a thousand percent chance”, to win the seat.

The win comes after the lobbying efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enhance the country’s international image, and to highlight Egypt’s influence and role in the region.

On Wednesday night, the Egyptian delegation to the UN hosted a gala dinner at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The Security Council according to the UN Charter works on maintaining international peace and security as well as developing friendly relations among nations, cooperation in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights; and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations.

Egypt’s membership begins January 1, 2016 and runs to December 31, 2017.

Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, and it’s the fifth time for the country to win a non-permanent seat at the Security Council.

Egypt previously held non-permanent UNSC membership in 1949-1950, 1961-1962, 1984-1985 and 1996-1997.