Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday assumed the rotating UN Security Council presidency for the month of January.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ivan Barbalic, took over the rotating Council presidency from his American counterpart, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who held the presidency for December 2010.

The Security Council presidency rotates among the 15-members according to the English alphabetical order of their names. Each president holds office for one calendar month.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in the world at large.

The Council has 15 members: five permanent members who hold veto power — China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States — and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.

Meanwhile on Saturday, five countries — India, Colombia, Germany, Portugal and South Africa — began their two-year tenure as non-permanent Council members.

The incoming members replaced Austria, Mexico, Uganda, Japan, and Turkey, whose terms expired on Dec. 31, 2010.

January 01, 2011
XINHUA

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