国际英语新闻:UN Security Council to highlight Arab issues in June: council president

UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Monday took over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for June and it intends to highlight Arab issues and protection of civilians in the month.

"We have nine (Arab) issues on the Council's agenda" in June, Kuwaiti permanent representative to the United Nations and president of Security Council for June, Mansour Al-Otaibi, told reporters at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.

The UN Security Council "is overwhelmed" with Arab issues in June, he stressed.

According to the council's program of work for the month adopted earlier on Monday, the council will convene a meeting on cooperation between the League of Arab States and the Security Council, which is one of the three high-level meetings of the month, said Al-Otaibi.

"We will be briefed by the UN secretary-general and the secretary-general of the League of Arab States on June 13...We hope such a meeting will lay the future groundwork for greater cooperation between the two organizations and interaction between them," he added.

In addition to the "Cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations: League of Arab States," other two high-level briefings are planned for the month: "Protection of civilians in armed conflict: missing persons in armed conflict" and "Maintenance of international peace and security: Conflict prevention and mediation."

All three high-level meetings will be chaired by Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, said Al-Otaibi.

Kuwait, chair of the Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions, is also planning to hold an open debate on working methods.

Adoptions are scheduled to renew the Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions and the authorization for member states to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya.

A further three adoptions are scheduled to renew the mandates of the UN missions in Darfur, the Golan Heights and Mali.

Meetings on other African issues this month include on the activities of UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, a briefing by the chair of the 751 Somalia Sanctions Committee and on the UN Mission in South Sudan.

In June, the Security Council will have the second of three briefings on the situation in Kosovo scheduled this year.

Kuwait, which took over the Security Council presidency from Indonesia, is holding its third Security Council presidency.