UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, yesterday called for a unified Security Council, over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regretted the lack of multilateralism.
Asked what the secretary-general expects from tomorrow’s emergency meeting of the Security Council, on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian escalation, Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said, “What we would like to see is … a strong, unified voice for de-escalation, for a cessation of hostilities and a push to get the parties back on track to find a political solution to this conflict, that has been going on and on and on.”
Asked for the secretary-general’s comment on the fact that one single Security Council member blocked the proposal for a Friday meeting, just days after all council members pledged support for multilateralism, Dujarric said, Guterres is concerned about the state of multilateralism “as we’ve seen it during the pandemic and as we’ve seen it in other aspects.”
“We would like to see member states put to action the ideals that we all have to live up to within this organisation,” he added.
With regard to the Security Council, he said, the more unified the council is, the stronger its voice and the stronger its impact.
The Security Council, on May 7, held a high-level debate on the need to uphold multilateralism and all council members came out in support of it. Yet, days later, the United States, an ally of Israel, blocked the proposal for a Friday Security Council meeting, according to diplomats. The Security Council later agreed on such a meeting tomorrow.– NNN-XINHUA
