ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's presidency of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in September will focus on resolution of conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region.
Speaking to Xinhua on Tuesday, Meles Alem, Spokesperson of Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said as part of efforts to resolve these conflicts the country will host a meeting in September 7 and 8 in Addis Ababa of the UNSC member states.
Ethiopia is already mediating in particular the conflicts in South Sudan and Somalia through the regional body Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), of which all three countries are members.
Ethiopia will also host a meeting in September 20 on efforts to boost UN peacekeeping forces numbers and capability.
The East African nation is currently the largest peacekeeping contributing nation in Africa and is among top four peacekeeping forces contributing nations globally.
These include the UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), UN Mission in Liberia (UNML), UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan(UNMISS), and UN Operations in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) as well as the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in which Ethiopia is providing all of the 4,400 troops deployed in Abyei, between Sudan and South Sudan.
Ethiopia will assume the presidency on the United Nations Security Council next month from fellow UN Security council member Egypt.
Ethiopia took its seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January after securing 185 votes out of the 190 vote election in June last year.
The non-permanent seat at the UNSC is given for a two year period for 10 of the 15 member states represented in the UN body, with Ethiopia expected to serve the 2017-18 period.
This is the third stint for Ethiopia being a UN Security Council non-permanent member having served on two other periods from 1968-69 and 1989-90.
