UNGA to resume tenth Emergency Special Session on Tuesday for Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Dec 2023 05:15

The UN General Assembly President, Dennis Francis, will convene the tenth Emergency Special Session this coming Tuesday following a veto from the US in the last session.

The hashtag “#UNGA” sign is shown outside the U.N. General Assembly Hall at the United Nations, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (AP)

The spokesperson to the UN General Assembly President, Monica Grayley, announced that the President, Dennis Francis, will convene a plenary meeting of the tenth Emergency Special Session later on Tuesday, at 10 pm (GMT+2), to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.

According to the statement, "The President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Dennis Francis, has just informed Member States that he will convene the 45th plenary meeting of the tenth Emergency Special Session (ESS) of the General Assembly on Tuesday, 12 December 2023."

The decision comes after the UN permanent representative of Egypt Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud, and Mauritania's permanent representative to the UN Sidi Mohamed Laghdaf "in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Chair of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation," requested the resumption of the special session following the US veto on a draft resolution for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in the previous session.

Egypt and Mauritania invoked resolution 377 (V) of 1950, titled "Uniting for Peace", to push for a special session to convene in the light of the Israeli violations.

As current Chairs of the #Arab & #OIC Groups, I sent a letter, with Amb Sidi M. Laghdaf, PR of @MauritaniaUN, to the @UN_PGA requesting the resumption of the #UNGA Tenth Emergency Special Session #ESS10, following the veto on a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire at the… pic.twitter.com/51M3VfXdOx
— Egypt PR to the UN in New York (@EgyptPRNewYork) December 10, 2023

US uses veto power, blocks UNSC resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire

The United States, previously, on Friday, vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, "diplomatically" shielding its ally.

The US deputy representative at the UN, Robert Wood, said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground."

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of a brief draft resolution, presented through the UAE, and Britain abstained. The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the UN charter’s Article 99 for it on Wednesday.

The #US has a long history of using its veto power to block any resolution that could harm the Israeli occupation.
Here are some of these incidents.#Palestine #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/fK9GmYpoUY
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 9, 2023

"The United Arab Emirates is deeply disappointed," said the representative of the UAE who had sponsored the resolution calling for a ceasefire.

"Regrettably... this council is unable to demand a humanitarian ceasefire."

Of course, Washington defended its veto and attacked the resolution's sponsors, criticizing them for "rushing it through" and leaving the call for an unconditional ceasefire unchanged.

"This resolution still contains a call for an unconditional ceasefire... it would leave Hamas in place able to repeat what it did on October 7," said US deputy UN representative Robert Wood.