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Saudi withdrawal stuns UN Security Council

Saudi Arabia rejected the seat, blaming the leading international body’s “double standards” and failure to resolve the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

Saudi Arabia’s angry rejection of a Security Council seat one day after winning it is a United Nations first that stunned members of the body on Friday.

Saudi Arabia rejected the seat, blaming the leading international body’s “double standards” and failure to resolve the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

But diplomats said there had been no official notice from Riyadh of its refusal to take up the seat on January 1. It was possible the kingdom could change its mind, they added. “This is totally unexpected. We all had to look into the council history for a precedent and there is not one,” said a Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Campaigning and securing a seat normally takes years of preparation which makes the announcement even more surprising.”

Saudi Arabia was one of five nations elected by the UN General Assembly to start a two-year term on the 15-member Security Council. The others included Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria. All had stood unopposed.

“There was nothing controversial about the election. But the government has made it clear in recent weeks that it is concerned about Syria and the Palestine issue,” said a second UN diplomat.

“They will have to write to set out their official position and then the UN will have to decide the next step,” the envoy added. “There could be a new election, but it is possible that Saudi Arabia can be persuaded to change its stance.”

The United Nations secretariat and UN General Assembly president had no immediate comment.

Saudi Arabia won a seat for the first time in Thursday’s election. Saudi UN Ambassador Abdullah Al Mouallimi welcomed the election as a reflection of Riyadh’s “long-standing policy in support of moderation and in support of resolving disputes in peaceful means”.

But the foreign ministry said Riyadh would not be member of a body that has been unable to tackle long-standing Middle East conflicts or to rid the region of nuclear weapons. “Work mechanisms and double standards on the Security Council prevent it from carrying out its duties and assuming its responsibilities in keeping world peace,” the ministry said in a statement explaining its move.

“Therefore Saudi Arabia... has no other option but to turn down Security Council membership until it is reformed and given the means to accomplish its duties and assume its responsiblities in preserving the world’s peace and security,” it added.

Russia sharply criticised Saudi Arabia for rejecting membership of the UN Security Council, slamming the kingdom’s “strange” argument that the body had failed over the Syrian conflict.

Moscow’s traditionally testy relationship with Riyadh has become even more strained in recent years, with the two countries at loggerheads over Saudi support for the rebels battling the pro-Kremlin regime in Syria. “We are surprised by Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented decision” to reject the seat, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. “In this way, Saudi Arabia has excluded itself from collective work within the Security Council to support international peace and security.”

France said it shared Saudi Arabia’s frustration. “We have an ongoing dialogue on the subject of Syria with Saudi Arabia. We share its frustration after the Security Council’s paralysis,” French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said, noting that France is proposing reforms to the council’s veto system.

Saudi analyst Abdulaziz Sager, who heads the Gulf Research Centre, said Saudi Arabia wanted to send the world two messages.

“First it wanted to show that it is a power to be reckoned with (by securing 176 votes in the 193-member UN General Assembly). And then it decided to act from a position of strength,” he said.

By declining the seat, it is expressing its “indignation” with the veto-wielding five permanent members of the Council and its “displeasure” with US policies in the region, mainly Washington’s desire to engage Iran.

“Saudi Arabia believes Iran is interfering in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain... and that the United States is willing to let Iran play a role in the region,” Sager added.