Côte d’Ivoire was making progress towards sustainable peace and economic recovery, but hurdles remained to improve security, reintegrate former soldiers, punish human rights abuses and carry out electoral reform ahead of presidential elections later this year, the head of the United Nations operation in that country told the Security Council today.
The Economic and Social Council this morning elected Mohamed Khaled Khiari (Tunisia) Vice-President of the 54-member body.
West Africa’s political landscape remained delicate as nations across the region continued to grapple with insecurity, terrorist threats and tensions ahead of a busy election cycle, the United Nations senior official there told the Security Council this afternoon.
The Security Council this afternoon called for immediate military action by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in cooperation with United Nations peacekeepers, to “neutralize” a Rwandan armed group that continued to threaten civilians in the eastern part of the country after a 2 January deadline to disband.
As serious fighting continued among warring armed groups in Mali, resulting in heavy casualties among both civilians and peacekeepers alike, the strife-torn nation’s ongoing peace talks had reached a crucial stage and must move forward, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council this afternoon.
The Security Council today failed to adopt a draft resolution calling for Israel, within three years, to withdraw from Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and, within one year, for the parties to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict.
After days of protracted negotiations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up the main part of its sixty-ninth session that aimed to address, among other things, a range of contentious human resource issues and concerns about the surging cost of the Organization’s special political missions.
Taking up the reports of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this evening, the 193-member General Assembly adopted a wide range of texts, including 16 resolutions and two draft decisions that, among other things, revised upwards the 2014-2015 biennium budget, and addressed the United Nations common system, human resources management and financing for peacekeeping operations.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon decided to suspend its final meeting — during which it would be expected to take action on all outstanding matters and conclude the main part of its sixty-ninth session — until further notice.
The General Assembly, in a late-day meeting, decided, in line with a proposal put forth by the body’s Vice-President, to extend the work of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) until Wednesday, 31 December.
