Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today authorized an advance team to monitor the ceasefire in Syria, which it said all parties “appeared to be observing”, while calling again on the Government to begin a pull-back of military forces from population centres and cease the use of heavy weaponry in those areas.

Alarmed by escalating conflict between Sudan and South Sudan — as manifested most recently by the seizure of oil fields in Sudan — the Security Council this afternoon demanded that both sides immediately end cross-border violence and support to armed proxies and redeploy their forces from forward positions.

Faced with socio-economic fallout from increasingly frequent and severe disasters, Governments must invest in disaster risk reduction and weave it into their development agendas in order to save more lives and build a sustainable world, a top aide to the United Nations Secretary-General told a gathering on disaster risk reduction today.

To advance national cohesion and ensure free and fair elections in Sierra Leone, the Security Council this morning called for dialogue, compliance with previous agreements, and adherence to international law by all parties in the country, as well as the prompt appointment by the Secretary-General of a new Executive Representative.

With more than a billion hungry people around the world now facing increasingly unstable food prices, collective will was needed to end excessive market speculation in food and other commodities, experts emphasized today as the General Assembly took stock of the “human tragedy” disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

Following the completion of the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq at the end of 2011, it was critical for the United Nations to continue comprehensive assistance in the areas of political facilitation, electoral support, human rights, reconstruction and development, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council this morning.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly this afternoon adopted a resolution advocating for a culture of accountability throughout the United Nations system, while affirming the need for the Assembly’s prior approval for any changes to the Secretariat’s overall departmental structure and programme budget.

The Security Council today called on the Syrian Government to follow through on its pledge to pull back its military from population centres by 10 April, and on all parties subsequently to cease armed violence, while signalling its readiness to authorize a monitoring mission to the strife-torn country — or to “consider further steps” if the commitments were not met.

The United Nations Disarmament Commission reached an agreement on a provisional agenda for the work of its 2012 substantive session today, ending a three-day-long stalemate that some feared would jeopardize the body’s ability to continue its work.

Strongly condemning assaults by rebels in northern Mali and the seizure of power in the capital by elements of the armed forces, the Security Council called today for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule, demanding the safe release of all detainees, as well as an end to all hostilities in the north and a peaceful resolution of all issues through dialogue.