Topic: Situation in the Middle East
Country: Angola
Delegate Name: Mallory Snyder
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Angola position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
The Middle East is currently becoming more and more unstable. Refugees fleeing affected countries, numerous terrorist attacks, and the ongoing violence is simply an abhorrent situation that has befell this precarious region. The country of Angola would like to acknowledge the two most prevalent issues facing this region: terrorism and humanitarian aid.
Currently, the most prevalent issue in the Middle East is the existence of radical extremist groups. We wish for a peaceful balance between economic, political, diplomatic, and military action. The minister for External Relations of the Republic of Angola stated, “Terrorism is today the most direct threat to the security of our countries, as one can conclude from the attacks that in the last two years killed thousands of civilians in the United States, in Russia, in Africa and in Asia.”
The main goal of the United Nations should be to limit the recruitment of more people to these radical extremist groups, not to mobilize troops. We appreciate Russia withdrawing its troops from Syria, and we believe this is a step in the right direction. Angola can only hope that other countries follow suit, as the instability of the Middle East is only increasing. Social media plays a huge role in the recruitment of new people to radical groups. Perhaps limiting, or at least impeding access to popular social media websites will decrease the number of new recruits. We should increase political, diplomatic, and economic action, and decrease military action. Diplomatic dialogues should always be open to any of the countries that are experiencing turmoil, and they should never be closed for any reason. Angola would like to clearly state that military action is not the answer, and will simply escalate the conflict.
Continued military action will only cause more humanitarian issues, as we can see from the current refugee crisis. Currently, an estimated 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance. 600,000 of those people are in besieged areas, making the delivery of humanitarian aid extremely difficult. 11.5 million Syrians go without basic health care, 12.1 million require clean water, and 5.7 million children are in need of elementary education. About 2.48 million people have unstable sources of food, and 1.5 million have been rendered homeless and are in need of shelter. These numbers are reflected in other tumultuous countries, such as Yemen and other surrounding countries. This council as a whole should work together to cooperatively remove political and diplomatic obstructions that impede humanitarian aid from reaching the people.
We wish for peaceful cooperation between all nations involved, and continue to hope for the return of stability to this volatile region.
