Luanda - Angola voted on Wednesday (11) at the United Nations headquarters in New York in favor of the resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
The vote on resolution A/ES-10L.33, which obtained 158 votes in favor, 9 against and 13 abstentions, took place during the 10th emergency special session resumed by the UN General Assembly on the 'illegal Israeli actions in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory'.
Speaking in the general debate on the subject, the Deputy Permanent Representative and Chargé d'Affaires of the Angolan Mission to the United Nations, Mateus Luemba, defended the need to end the conflict, stressing the need for the immediate implementation of the ceasefire that cannot wait any longer.
According to the diplomat, full and unlimited humanitarian assistance must be granted and all hostages must be released unconditionally.
'The time for our collective action is now for the sake of those in Gaza who see this organization as their last hope for achieving peace and stability,' he said.
It called on all parties to the Gaza conflict to exercise maximum restraint, to immediately end all hostilities and to fully respect international law, including international humanitarian law.
According to the diplomat, the resumption of the special emergency session 'takes place in a very challenging and complex international context, particularly due to strategic concerns and regional implications in the political and diplomatic environment in the Middle East' and the serious deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza Strip.
'As we gather in this special emergency session, civilians suffer and die every day. In this conflict there are no winners, everyone is a victim. Civilians, mostly women and children, are paying a heavy price, losing everything, including their own lives,' he said.
He stressed that Angola condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, regardless of its motivation or its actors.
Noted that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), whose resolution A/ES-10/L.32 was also voted on during this session with 159 votes in favour, 9 against and 11 abstentions, has been responsible for the education and provision of life-saving assistance to more than 500,000 Palestinian children in the occupied territories, mainly through the almost 700 schools it manages.
In this context, he added, the cessation or restriction of UNRWA's activities would leave Palestinian refugees without the essential assistance they need.
Ambassador Mateus Luemba said that Angola 'expresses its concern about the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip' and considers that any measure to prevent the presence of UNRWA would undermine fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation, and at the same time increase tension in this very volatile region.
He stressed that the United Nations, namely the Security Council, 'must take concrete steps to implement its own resolutions' creating the independent sovereign state of Palestine and reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to have an independent state.
At the end of his speech, Ambassador Mateus Luemba reiterated that the two-state solution is the only viable option to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as it provides the basis for the existence of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine living together in peace and harmony, cooperating in a normal way, as neighbouring countries that share common borders and opportunities for bilateral cooperation. SC/DOJ
