Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Sweden Among New Members of UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 29 2016 (IPS) - Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden were elected on Tuesday to serve on the UN Security Council (UNSC) as non-permanent members, while Italy and Netherlands have split the remaining contested seat. Ethiopia, a friendly country, will replace Angola, and Spain will be replaced for one year by Italy, and the other year by The Netherlands, two European Union countries whose voting record on Israel in international forums is better than Spain’s. On January 1, 2018, the Netherlands will replace Italy as a non-permanent member of the council on January 1, 2018, according to an agreement reached by Rome and Amsterdam after they both received 95 votes each following five rounds of voting in the General Assembly. These five new members are in addition to the five permanent members (France, United States, Great Britain, China, Russia) and the remaining five non-permanent members: Egypt, Uruguay, Ukraine, Senegal and Japan.
Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Sweden begin their terms on the United Nations Security Council, replacing Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela.