UK takes over UN Security Council presidency for August

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON

UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce took over the Security Council presidency for August on Wednesday.

At a news conference at UN headquarters, Pierce discussed the British presidency of the Security Council and their agenda for the next month.

Pierce said they planned to continue the efforts of previous presidents to get members of the council to work together in a productive manner.

"We want to focus the council on areas where we believe it can be targeted, it can be action-oriented, it can make a difference," she said.

Among the agenda items set to be discussed this month are the use of chemical weapons in Syria, peace security in Yemen, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Regarding Rohingya Muslims, Pierce said the UN plans to work to get Rohingya refugees back to their homes.

More than 750,000 refugees are sheltering in Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, according to Amnesty International.

On whether the Security Council aimed to resolve the political crisis in Cyprus, Stephen Hickey, Political Co-ordinator at the UK Mission to the UN, said “the mood in the council is that we should do everything we can to start the political process" on the island.

He said Jane Holl Lute –- appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as the temporary advisor to conduct consultations on Cyprus – had negotiations with both sides.

“Once we have that assessment, we will make some calculations about where we go next in terms of the political process,” Hickey said, adding Lute would inform the Security Council once she completed her visit and negotiations.

Cyprus has been divided since when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.