United Nations, October 16: The UN Security Council will be getting five new members in January regional powers Nigeria and Brazil, former war-torn Bosnia and Lebanon, and the politically troubled African nation of Gabon.
The General Assembly elected the five countries on Thursday to serve two-year terms on the U.N.’s most powerful body.
Unlike most previous Security Council elections, there were no contested seats this year. As a result, the five countries nominated by regional groups won easy election on the first ballot in voting by the 192-member world body.
“It’s going to be an even stronger Security Council, I think, next year,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said after the vote. “We have two large countries in Brazil and Nigeria who carry the weight of being a regional power. We have two countries in Lebanon and Bosnia that have been through conflict and can bring their own national experiences to the Security Council.”
“I think also for both those countries, the experience of being on the council will help strengthen their national government systems to enable them to take decisions — to take a view at the center on international issues and broaden the context of those governments,” he said.
The Security Council has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. The 10 non-permanent members, representing regional groups, serve two-year terms.
The five newly elected members will replace Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Vietnam on Jan. 1, 2010. The five countries elected last year — Austria, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and Uganda — will remain on the council until Jan. 1, 2011.
Bosnia and Lebanon will be in the rare position of being subject to scrutiny by the Security Council while serving on it.
Bosnia has never been on the council, and Lebanon has not been a member since 1953-54.
Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj said his country’s experience during war “will be an important asset for the Security Council and for the United Nations system.”
“Preventive diplomacy is something we will be working very much on — never to allow the crisis and loss of human life to happen ever again as we experienced in Bosnia,” he said.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe said his country also plans to work with other council members on “preventive diplomacy,” which is a cornerstone of its approach to global problems.
“We think it’s better and much cheaper to nip conflicts in the bud rather than having to deal with them when they occur,” he said.
Lebanon has been on the Security Council agenda for decades — with a U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in the south near the Israeli border since 1978 and a U.N.-backed tribunal mulling possible indictments in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
The political situation in Lebanon is also fragile, with the Western-backed majority in parliament and Hezbollah and its allies still deadlocked on forming a new unity government following June 7 elections.
Lebanon’s U.N. Ambassador Nawaf Salam said his country “believes it has a special mission as a country of tolerance and diversity.”
“We hope that our seat on the Security Council will help us also promote not only rule of law but dialogue of culture and civilization and will help us work for a more just and more democratic international system,” he said.
Gabon is not on the council agenda but it also has political problems. Its Aug. 30 election results giving victory to Ali Bongo, the son of the country’s longtime dictator, have been disputed by opposition candidates who accuse Bongo of fraud.
Gabon was last on the Security Council in 1998-99, Nigeria in 1994-95 and Brazil in 2004-05.
Brazil’s U.N. Ambassador Maria Luiza Viotti told reporters after the vote that she was”very honored, very happy, ready to work.”
Asked whether Brazil hasn’t won too much already with the 2010 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, she replied: “I think it’s all very positive and very good achievement. I think that we will work to deserve even more.”
–Agencies