Tazeen Akhtar
With the start of the new year , it is good and big news for the Global South and especially Africa and Arab World including Palestine that the largest country in Africa and the third biggest economy of the continent , the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria has assumed the revolving presidency of the Security Council of United Nations on Wednesday 01 Jan for the year 2025.
What does this development bring for above mentioned regions and why does the Algeria Presidency achieve some milestones of peace and stability here? The answer can be found in the pledges the Algerian President made, in his previous tenure as well as on his reelection a couple of months ago. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf shared the Algerian priorities during the Presidency in a press conference and shed light on what Algeria intends to do at UNSC in this one year.
As far as the challenges are concerned, Algeria has a number of issues to work upon in one year short term that is the real challenge for this country. In the neighborhood, the Libyan and Sudanese crises are the test of Algerian diplomacy at UNSC. Third on the common borders with Morocco is the Western Sahara dispute. Here , Algeria itself is a party and supporter of the Sahrawi community there. In the Middle East, Gaza was already calling for the attention of the world body while Syria has also sought a reasonable approach from the stakeholders a couple of weeks ago. This is the mother of all crises indeed.
Mr. Attaf expressed the determination of his country for supporting international legality and just causes that is need of the time when many regions in Africa and Asia are marred with conflicts and hostilities. Algeria as a member of UNSC in the last year worked on the same path and claims some important achievements, which contribute to strengthening the spread of Algerian diplomacy and enhancing its position and role at the regional and international levels.
Algeria joined the Security Council in this international context burdened with risks and challenges. Despite the sensitivity of the situation and the difficulty of the task, Algeria has taken it upon itself to contribute, even if only to a small extent, to addressing the issues raised before this central UN body.
Algeria finds its path to the desired goal of peace from the instructions of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune that are considered a roadmap for Algeria’s term in the Security Council. FM Attaf describes four main axes of this roadmap as :
– The first axis, that Algeria always works to be the Arab and African voice in the Security Council, advocating for the concerns of Arab and African countries and peoples, and defending their aspirations and ambitions with all honesty and sincerity.
– The second axis, that Algeria dedicate its term in the Council to supporting just causes, foremost among which is the Palestinian cause and the Western Sahara cause, in defense of the national rights established by international legality for the benefit of both the Palestinian and Sahrawi peoples.
– The third axis, Algeria’s role in the Security Council relates to the necessity of working to make Algeria a positive propositional force that contributes to bridging the rifts and divisions between the permanent members within the Security Council.
– The fourth axis, Upholding the rules of international law and the decisions of international legality in all of Algeria’s movements within the Security Council, as well as working to restore the prestige of the United Nations and its vital role in resolving disputes and settling them through peaceful negotiation.
Mr. Attaf expressed that International law remains the compass to which everyone must resort on an equal footing, and the United Nations remains the comprehensive framework that must fully play its role in activating the rules of international law and ensuring everyone’s compliance with its provisions without any discrimination, preference or favoritism.
Following the above mentioned roadmap may not solve the issues but remarkable strides towards the solution can be expected if other parties cooperate with the chair. Algeria enjoys the close working relationship with the secretary general. Pakistan has also joined UNSC for 2025-26 and both countries are looking forward to complementing the efforts of each other for the peace in the world.
On Palestine, Minister Attaf declares: “our efforts have focused and continue to focus on the priority of a ceasefire and relief for the Palestinians in Gaza, and on the necessity of breaking the wall of immunity that the Israeli occupation is protected by, as well as on the inevitability of strengthening the horizon of a political settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict according to the formula of the two-state solution agreed upon internationally.”
With regard to the Arab world, the Algerian focus will continue on the Palestinian cause, as Algeria will organize a ministerial meeting of the Security Council with the aim of discussing the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories in particular, and in the Middle East region in general.
As for the African continent: the focus will be on the issue of combating terrorism in Africa, through organizing a ministerial meeting of the Security Council to discuss the spread of the scourge of terrorism in our continent, especially since this scourge has become the most prominent and greatest threat to the security and stability of African countries these days.
On Western Sahara Algeria is firm and strong to the fact that the Sahrawi issue is a decolonization issue that has not been completed, to the fact that the Sahrawi people are qualified to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, and to the fact that the Moroccan presence on the Sahrawi lands is a complete alien occupation that cannot be legitimized, imposed, or accepted as inevitable.
Algeria seeks strength for 10 Non permanent members of UNSC and will contribute to unifying the voice and influence of the Group of Ten Elected States (E10). For the first time in the history of the Security Council, this group, which represents the broadest spectrum of the international community, has initiated joint draft resolutions, the starting point being the draft resolution submitted by Algeria at the beginning of this year on the Palestinian cause. Pakistan can use this opportunity to highlight the Jammu Kashmir dispute as well, which is the oldest issue to be resolved on the agenda of the UN.
(The writer is MSc Mass Comm, has worked as Editor of newspapers in Islamabad. He is member media safety committee of Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors CPNE , [email protected])
