Egypt strikes exceptional diplomatic triumph at UN
Egypt, Politics, 11/6/2000

Together with the Arab, Islamic and the Non-Aligned group at the UN, Egypt succeeded in garnering unprecedented international support behind its draft resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

The draft resolution mentioned Israel specifically for the first time ever after it was ratified by the first committee in the UN General Assembly by a majority of 139 votes, with seven abstaining and the US, Israel and Micronesia rejecting it.

Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral International Relations Ambassador Soliman Awad Sunday said the Egyptian intensive contacts with various world states succeeded in issuing this draft resolution that will be endorsed in its final form by the General Assembly in two weeks.

"This is an unprecedented accomplishment in itself in the history of review conferences on the elimination of nuclear weapons since 1994, when Egypt first presented the draft resolution", he said.

"Egypt has been presenting the draft resolution on an annual basis since, he added. The grave deterioration in the Middle East peace process, in light of the Israeli attacks on Palestinian lands, has turned the nuclear issue into a top priority", Ambassador Awad said.

"It brought to world attention the gravity of the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, Israel's possession of this lethal weapon and its refusal to place its nuclear establishments under the inspection of the International Atomic energy Agency", he noted.

Some European countries, especially Germany and the Netherlands, voted in Israel's favour at the Human Rights Committee decision on October 19", he said.

"This same position was retracted a day later at the UN vote to denounce Israeli practices of excessive use of force in Palestinian lands", he added. He attributed the retreat in the position to the intensive Egyptian contacts.

"Germany and Netherlands endorsed the Egyptian draft resolution in the first committee of the General Assembly", Ambassador Awad said.

"In this session, last Thursday, the draft resolution received international unanimity although these two countries had objected to the Egyptian changes introduced to the draft in its first stages", he said.

Israel's friends must recognize that turning a deaf ear to or justifying Israeli practices is no longer acceptable and that it is harmful rather than helpful to the peace process, he added.

He criticized the seven countries who abstained from voting despite their interest in the realization of stability in the Middle East and Asia.

Australia, Canada, Singapore, India, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago abstained from voting for the Egyptian draft resolution.

Previous Stories:
  Boycott of Israel needs no high-level directives   (10/28/2000)
  Moussa delivers President Mubarak's address, UN-Millennium Summit   (9/7/2000)
  Egypt: Syria will not give up an inch of its lands   (7/14/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search