TURKEY AND UGANDA ELECTED SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

Organisation of the Islamic Conference secretary-general Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has congratulated the governments of Turkey and Uganda for their election as non-permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. He expressed confidence that the two countries, as well as Burkina Faso and Libya, who are OIC members, would actively and effectively promote international peace and security and defend Muslim causes at the international level. “The membership of these countries in the UN Security Council will reinforce the existing relations between the OIC and the world body,” he said in a statement. Besides Turkey and Uganda, Austria, Japan and Mexico were elected new non-permanent members of the Council. The Council’s five other non-permanent members, who were elected last year and whose terms end on Dec 31, 2009, are Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Vietnam. The five permanent members are China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States.