UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations Security Council committee considering an application by the Palestinian Authority to become a full UN member “was unable to make a unanimous recommendation” on whether it met the criteria, according to the committee report seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Authority is still expected to push the 15-member Security Council to vote — as early as this week — on a draft resolution recommending it become a full member of the world body, diplomats said.
Such membership would effectively recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the 193-member UN General Assembly in 2012.
But an application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council, where Israel ally the United States can block it, and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.
The United States said earlier this month that establishing an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations.
The UN Security Council has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.
Little progress has been made on achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the early 1990s.
The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes six months into a war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Security Council committee on the admission of new members — made up of all 15 council members — agreed to its report on Tuesday after meeting twice last week to discuss the Palestinian application.
“Regarding the issue of whether the application met all the criteria for membership ... the Committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council,” the report said, adding that “differing views were expressed.”
UN membership is open to “peace-loving states” that accept the obligations in the founding UN Charter and are able and willing to carry them out.
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UN committee unable to agree on Palestinian bid for full membership
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UN committee unable to agree on Palestinian bid for full membership
- An application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council, where Israel ally the United States can block it
At least 25 killed in militant attacks in northeast Nigeria
- Attacks in the towns of Madagali and Hong in the border region with Cameroon, were attributed to Boko Haram militants
- Since 2009, the militant insurgency in Nigeria has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: At least 25 people were killed in two separate militant attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Adamawa state, local sources said on Thursday.
The attacks in the towns of Madagali and Hong in the border region with Cameroon, were attributed to Boko Haram militants, whose fighters have been active in the area since the group began its violent insurgency in 2009.
“Gunmen we believed to be Boko Haram on many motorcycles … attacked the market. They opened fire on people and killed 21,” a Madagali local government official said about the Tuesday evening attack, on the condition of anonymity.
“We are still searching for more bodies as some might have died in the bush from gunshot wounds while trying to find safety.”
The attackers also looted a market and stole food items and motorcycles, the source said.
Four others, including three troops, were killed in neighboring Hong, resident Ezekiel Musa said.
“Boko Haram attacked us after they left the town. We saw the corpses of three soldiers and one woman was killed,” Musa said.
“Now the town has security personnel but some of us have already started leaving the town because of fear of what happened.”
State governor Adamu Umaru Fintiri condemned the attack without providing an official toll in a statement.
“We will not let terrorists undermine our efforts to restore peace and stability,” the statement said. “I warn perpetrators: desist from these senseless attacks or face the full weight of our collective resolve.”
Since 2009, the militant insurgency in Nigeria, led primarily by Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced in the northeast of the country, according to the UN.
The conflict has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight these groups.
The attacks in the towns of Madagali and Hong in the border region with Cameroon, were attributed to Boko Haram militants, whose fighters have been active in the area since the group began its violent insurgency in 2009.
“Gunmen we believed to be Boko Haram on many motorcycles … attacked the market. They opened fire on people and killed 21,” a Madagali local government official said about the Tuesday evening attack, on the condition of anonymity.
“We are still searching for more bodies as some might have died in the bush from gunshot wounds while trying to find safety.”
The attackers also looted a market and stole food items and motorcycles, the source said.
Four others, including three troops, were killed in neighboring Hong, resident Ezekiel Musa said.
“Boko Haram attacked us after they left the town. We saw the corpses of three soldiers and one woman was killed,” Musa said.
“Now the town has security personnel but some of us have already started leaving the town because of fear of what happened.”
State governor Adamu Umaru Fintiri condemned the attack without providing an official toll in a statement.
“We will not let terrorists undermine our efforts to restore peace and stability,” the statement said. “I warn perpetrators: desist from these senseless attacks or face the full weight of our collective resolve.”
Since 2009, the militant insurgency in Nigeria, led primarily by Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced in the northeast of the country, according to the UN.
The conflict has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight these groups.
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