Riyadh: A day after being elected for one of the five the non-permanent UN security coucil seat, Saudi Arabia on Friday declined the coveted rotating seat, citing "double standards" that made it hard for the world body to end conflict and wars, especially the Palestinian crisis.
"The kingdom sees that the method and work mechanism and the double standards in the Security Council prevent it from properly shouldering its responsibilities towards world peace," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.
"With the current continuation of the Palestinian cause without a just and lasting solution for 65 years, which resulted in several wars threatened international peace and security is irrefutable evidence and proof of the Security Council's inability to carry out its duties and assume its responsibilities", it said.
"The failure of the Security Council to make the Middle East a free zone of all weapons of mass destruction, whether because of its inability to subdue the nuclear programs of all countries in the region, without exception, to the international control and inspection or to prevent any country in the region from possessing nuclear weapons, is another irrefutable evidence and proof of its inability to carry out its duties and hold its responsibilities", it said.
"Allowing the ruling regime in Syria to kill and burn its people by the chemical weapons, while the world stands idly, without applying deterrent sanctions against Damascus regime, is also irrefutable evidence and proof of the inability of the Security Council to carry out its duties and responsibilities", the statement said.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, based on its historical responsibilities towards its people, Arab and Islamic nations as well as towards the peoples aspiring for peace and stability all over the world, announces its apology for not accepting membership of the Security Council until the Council is reformed and enabled, effectively and practically, to carry out its duties and responsibilities in maintaining international peace and security", the statement said.
The Security Council has been divided on how to handle the civil war in Syria, with Western powers pushing for stronger sanctions against President Bashar Al Assad and Russia vetoing resolutions to that end. Saudi Arabia has been backing rebels in that conflict.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday has won a seat as a non-permanent member in the U.N. Security Council for the first time.
It was at the UNSC joined by Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria who took seats in an election. The five new non-permanent members were replacing Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo on the 15-member council on January 1 and for the upcoming two years.
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