UN Security Council president urges maximum restraint in Egypt

August 16, 2013 | 10:42

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The Argentine president of the UN Security Council urged all parties in the crisis in Egypt to exercise "maximum restraint" on Thursday, following an emergency meeting in New York.

File photo of the United Nations Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York. (AFP/Stan Honda)

>> Fresh Egypt violence after crackdown kills more than 550

UNITED NATIONS: The Argentine president of the UN Security Council urged all parties in the crisis in Egypt to exercise "maximum restraint" on Thursday, following an emergency meeting in New York.

Argentine Ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval said that the Council's 15-member states had "deplored the loss" of life in Cairo and called for an end to the violence and to advance "national reconciliation."

The meeting comes a day after a crackdown by Egyptian security forces on protesters backing the deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, which left more than 500 people dead.

France and Britain are permanent members of the Security Council and Australia is one of the 15 countries currently represented.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the crackdown, and UN rights chief Navi Pillay demanded that a wide-ranging probe be carried out.

Earlier on Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an urgent Security Council meeting.

"This is a very serious massacre... against the Egyptian people who were only protesting peacefully," Erdogan said, criticising "the silence" of the global community in the face of the bloodshed.

AFP

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