Tebboune calls for UN to grant Palestine full membership

Algeria’s President called on the United Nations to grant the state of Palestine full membership of the bloc, reports Turkish news outlet, Anadolu Ajansi, September 20.

Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for the UN to host a “special” session with a purpose to carry out a vote on Palestine’s full membership of the United Nations.

Tebboune, a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause, pressured the UN’s Security Council to pass a resolution calling for a halt to Israel’s occupation as well as a two-state solution.

The presence of President Tebboune at the UN General Assembly sparked outrage from Ferhat Mehenni, the President of the Kabyle Government in exile.

In a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on September 17, he wrote,“Kabylia, colonised by Algeria, is appalled by the presence of Abdelmadjid Tebboune for the first time at the United Nations General Assembly.”.

Kabylia’s government is a self-proclaimed provisional government formed by The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) with the aim of achieving the region’s independence from Algeria.

Mehenni added, “Tebboune is nothing other than a puppet of the violent Algerian military regime.”

At a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, taking place in New York from September 19 to 26, the Algerian President discussed national and global issues, particularly emphasising his support for the Palestinian people as well as stressing the North African country’s support for the Arab Peace Initiative, established in 2002.

The Peace Initiative refers to a ten-sentence proposal that demands an end to conflict between multiple Arab states and Israel, also calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon amongst other occupied territories.

The Algerian leader said at the General Assembly, “Reforms are also needed in the UN Security Council, which has been weak in fulfilling its duty to maintain international peace and security and in preventing the use of force.”

Notably, the 77-year-old addressed the situation in Niger, victim of a military coup that unseated President Mohamed Bazoum in July, rejecting a military intervention and calling for a peaceful restoration of the ousted President.

The President’s stance on Niger is echoed by his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs who in early August noted that, “Algeria cautions, calls for prudence and restraint in the face of aspirations of foreign military intervention, which unfortunately appear to be real and feasible options, while being factors that only complicate and exacerbate the current crisis.”

Every country in the world is a member of the organisation, asides from Taiwan, the Vatican City, and Kosovo. The latter is a partially recognised country in southeastern Europe, bordered by Serbia.

The state of Palestine currently holds the status of a non-observer member state. The country applied for full UN membership in 2011 however it did not amass enough of the required support in the world body’s Security Council.

In 2012, the General Assembly upgraded Palestine’s status from an “observer entity” to a “non-member observer state”.

ANADOLU AJANSI

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