UN Chief Hails Malaysia’s Stand On Palestine, Gaza Peacekeeping Readiness

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 (Bernama) -- The United Nations has lauded Malaysia’s unwavering stance on Palestine and its readiness to join a possible UN peacekeeping mission in Gaza.

However, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said details of the mission remain under consideration.

“What is important now is to make sure the ceasefire holds and that the first phase of the agreement is fully implemented.

“The UN stands ready to play whatever role the key actors involved in the process decide, once the ceasefire arrangement advances to the next phase,” he said at a press conference ahead of the 15th ASEAN-UN Summit, held in conjunction with the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits here on Monday.

He also praised Malaysia’s foreign policy as one that upholds consistency and fairness, free from double standards, and continues to strongly advocate for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and statehood.

The latest Gaza ceasefire took effect on Oct 9 as the first phase of a multi-stage peace deal between Hamas and Israel. It marks a diplomatic breakthrough — offering a glimmer of hope for calm after a devastating two-year war, though doubts remain over whether it can deliver lasting peace and rebuild the shattered territory.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had expressed Malaysia’s readiness to contribute personnel to a possible UN-led peacekeeping mission in Gaza.

In another development, Guterres expressed deep concern over the worsening conflict in Sudan, following reports that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken control of the city of El-Fasher in the Darfur region.

He said the development marks a grave escalation in the civil war and urged the international community to cease fuelling the conflict through external interference.

“The level of suffering we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable. It is clear that we are no longer seeing only a Sudanese problem with an army and rapid support forces fighting each other. 

“We have more and more an external interference that undermines the possibility to a ceasefire and to a political solution of the problem,” he said.

Therefore, Guterres called on all nations involved, directly or indirectly, to immediately cease supplying arms and support to both the Sudanese army and the RSF, stressing that their actions were undermining prospects for peace.

-- BERNAMA