The majority of UNSC members have criticized Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland at a meeting held in response to the decision, which some members have said may have had a significant impact on Gaza’s Palestinians.
At the 15-member body’s emergency meeting in New York City on Monday, the only member of the group who did not object to Israel’s formal recognition of the breakaway region of Somalia. However, it claimed that its position on Somaliland had not changed.
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Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, Somalia’s UN ambassador, urged members to vehemently oppose Israel’s “act of aggression,” which he claimed threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea regions in particular.
Osman expressed concern that the move might serve to advance Israel’s plans to “relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the northwestern region of Somalia.”
He declared, “This total disregard for the rule of law and morality must end right away.”
The self-declared Republic of Somaliland was recognized as an independent and sovereign state last week, prompting the emergency meeting to be called.
According to Gabriel Elizondo, a journalist for the UN in New York, “14 of the 15 council members criticized Israel’s recognition of Somaliland,” while the US “defended Israel’s action but didn’t follow Israel’s lead.”
The US deputy representative to the UN, Tammy Bruce, stated to the council that “Israel has the same right to establish diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state.”
However, according to Bruce, there hasn’t been any change in American policy and there hasn’t been any announcement about US recognition of Somaliland.
Jonathan Miller, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN, stated to the council that the decision was neither a hostile one toward Somalia nor a precluded any future negotiations between the parties.
Recognizing is not defiance, the statement goes. Miller remarked, “This is a chance.”
In statements made to the UNSC, many other nations expressed concerns about Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, including the effects for Palestinians.
Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz, the 22-member Arab League’s UN envoy, stated that the organization “rejects any measures arising from this illegitimate recognition that would encourage the forced displacement of the Palestinian people or use northern Somali ports to establish military bases.”
Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon, Pakistan’s deputy UN ambassador, stated at the meeting that Israel’s “unlawful recognition of] the] Somaliland region of Somalia is deeply troubling” because it was “made in response to Israel’s previous references to Somaliland of the Federal Republic of Somalia as a destination for the deportation of Palestinian people, particularly from Gaza.”
China’s UN envoy, Sun Lei, claimed that his country “opposes any act to split” Somalia’s territory, adding that the United Kingdom and China were two of the permanent UNSC members who did not support the move.
According to Sun Lei, “no country should support or abet separatist forces in other nations to advance their own geopolitical interests.”
South Africa, whose UN envoy, Mathu Joyini, claimed that her country “reaffirmed” Somalia’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” in accordance with international law, the UN Charter, and the African Union’s founding act, along with other non-members who made requests for comment.
Compared to Palestinian recognition
US Ambassador Bruce compared the decision to recognize Palestine to which more than 150 of the UN’s member states have defended Israel’s position.
No emergency meeting has been set up, according to Bruce, who criticized what she called the UNSC’s “double standards,” because “some nations, including members of this council, have unilaterally recognized a non-existent Palestinian state.”
Samuel Zbogar, Slovenia’s ambassador to the UN, refuted the comparison, saying that “Palestine is not a part of any state.” Palestine is also a member state of [the UN]the UN, which is illegally occupied territory.
On the other hand, acknowledging that it is a member state of the UN violates the UN Charter, Zbogar said.
Source: Aljazeera
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