Kuwait returns to UNSC presidency

United Nations : Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas has been invited by Kuwait to address the UN Security Council (UNSC) at a session on the Middle East. 

Mansour Al-Otaibi, permanent representative of Kuwait to the UN, told this during a press conference, after assuming the presidency of the top decision-making body of the UN on Thursday. 

“We support the Palestinian position and outcome of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers, where the participation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the meeting of the Security Council on the Palestinian issue was recently confirmed,” Al Otaibi said.

Abbas is scheduled to address the Council on February 20. He said that it would “be a good thing” for Council members to hear the Palestinian President in person. “He is the President of the state and he is directly concerned by the topic that will be discussed.”

Abbas will be speaking to the Council at a time of heightened tension between the US and the Palestinians following President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move his country’s embassy there.

Al-Otaibi said that there was no objection from any Council members to inviting Abbas.

The presidency of the Council is held by each of the 15 members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names. It is the second time that Kuwait holds the Council presidency with the first one in February 1979. 

The priorities set for Kuwait’s membership in the Council “include of course the issues of our region as we are the Arab representative and the closest to them geographically, including - Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya,” Al-Otaibi said.

Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait, will preside over a “Signature Event”, a high-level ministerial meeting on the purposes and principles of the Charter in maintaining international peace and security on February 21, Al-Otaibi said. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will present a briefing. 

Two more “Signature Events” are planned. One is an open debate on the working methods of the Council next Tuesday and the other is an informal session on the humanitarian situation in Palestine on February 22, to which former US President has been invited as the keynote speaker, Al-Otaibi said.

He said that he had tried to organise a visit by the Council to Myanmar to study the situation of the Rohingyas but was not successful.

The Myanmar government did not refuse permission outright for the trip, but had said the time was not opportune for the visit, which could take place later, he said.

Reflecting the regional concerns, there will be two sessions dealing with international terrorism on February 8 and 13, he said.

The situation in Syria will come up at the Council on February 14. Kuwait and Sweden are the Council members dealing with the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Al-Otaibi said he expects the participation of more than 70 countries in the forthcoming conference on Iraq reconstruction. Preparations are being made in coordination with the governments of Kuwait, Iraq, the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank to mobilise support for the reconstruction of the liberated areas, he said. 

The Council will have its quarterly meeting on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and another on the activities of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee.

Other issues will be following closely include the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, said Al-Otaibi.