Saudi Arabia
said on Friday it would not
take up its rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council, citing
"double standards" which it said hampered the world body's ability to
end conflicts.
It is the
second time this month that
Saudi Arabia
has publicly expressed discontent
over what it sees as the Security Council's failure to take action to stop a
civil war in
Syria
that has killed more than
100,000 people.
"The
kingdom sees that the method and work mechanism and the double standards in the
Security Council prevent it from properly shouldering its responsibilities
towards world peace," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by
state news agency SPA.
Saudi Arabia
, along with
Chad
and
Nigeria
, were elected by the U.N. General
Assembly on Thursday to serve a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council as
human rights groups called for all three countries to improve their records.
The Saudi
Foreign Ministry said it was unable to take its seat until reforms were
introduced, but did not specify what reforms it wanted.
U.S.-allied
Saudi Arabia
has been angry over what it says is
the failure of the international community to help either Syrian rebels
fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad or Palestinians seeking an end to
more than four decades of Israeli occupation.
The Security
Council has been split on how to handle the civil war in
Syria
, with Western powers pushing for
stronger sanctions against Assad and
Russia
vetoing resolutions to that
end.
Saudi Arabia
has backed the rebels in that conflict.
The Saudis,
along with other Arab states, have also often criticized the
United States
for blocking international action
to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands seized in the 1967
Middle East
war.
Earlier this
month, the Saudi foreign minister cancelled a speech at the U.N. General
Assembly in frustration over the international inaction on
Syria
and the Palestinian issue, a
diplomatic source said.