Meetings Coverage

The Security Council had carried out an intense but useful mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 13 to 15 May, its leader said in a briefing to colleagues today. Gérard Araud of France said the mission had discussed with President Joseph Kabila, other Congolese leaders and members of civil society, means by which to achieve the common objective of restoring State sovereignty over the national territory and restoring stability.

The President of Djibouti told the Security Council today that persistent ills in the Horn of Africa, including food insecurity, conflict in Somalia and destabilizing actions by Eritrea, opened the prospects to wider crises there, and must be dealt with firmly. “The escalating tensions and conflicts, the breakdown of law and order so widespread in the Horn of Africa, could be but a prelude to a much worse situation, unless its many causes are sufficiently and seriously addressed,” he said.

The first in a series of preparatory sessions leading to a follow-up in 2012 to the historic Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992 concluded today, following three days in which delegations strove to rekindle the spirit of Rio and shore up the foundation on which sustainable development had gained traction around the world.

The Chairmen of the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference updated delegations today on progress made to advance the three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — non-proliferation, disarmament and the right to peaceful use of nuclear technology — and to forge a consensus on the outcome document for the Conference, which will conclude on 28 May.

Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks had officially commenced under United States mediation, but they faced “powerful elements who will seek to derail progress”, Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, told the Security Council today.

Focusing their second day of talks on two themes identified by the General Assembly for discussion in 2012 — a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development — participants at the first Preparatory Committee meeting for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development urged that new concepts not sideline already agreed sustainable development platforms.

Kosovo remained stable but the potential for volatility remained because little progress had been made in reconciling the ethnic Albanian and Serb communities there, Lambert Zannier, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, told the Security Council today. “The absence of a significant process of reconciliation between the communities continued to be a challenge, which, coupled with economic difficulties, continued to present the risk of social unrest,” he said.

Against the still elusive implementation of the 1992 Earth Summit’s groundbreaking “Agenda 21”, delegations began a three-day session in New York today — the first in a series of preparatory meetings for the 20-year follow-on Conference in 2012 – hoping to rally renewed political will to meet the challenge of balancing economic growth and human progress with environmental sustainability.

“Piracy may be the first international crime,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today, as he called for a “change in strategy” to combat the resurgent scourge through broader global cooperation and a new push for stability in war-torn Somalia, off whose coast pirates had, in the past year alone, hijacked some 56 ships and taken hostage nearly 750 crew members.

Calling for a shift from good ideas to focused actions without further delay, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Commission on Sustainable Development today that such actions were needed in order to meet the world’s responsibility towards future generations and to implement commitments already made. “We know what we need to do. We know what works,” the Secretary-General said this afternoon as the Commission concluded its eighteenth session.