Meetings Coverage

Expressing deep sympathy and condolences to the victims, their families and the Government of Indonesia, the Security Council this afternoon condemned in the strongest terms the 17 July heinous terrorist attacks in Jakarta.

The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was critical to preserving the fragile peace and stability of West Africa, the President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone told the Security Council this morning. Briefing the Council on the Special Court’s activities, Judge Renate Winter said that it was now hearing Mr. Taylor’s defence, which had started this week.

Welcoming the Afghan-led preparations for upcoming presidential and provincial council elections, the Security Council stressed this morning that it was important that they be free, fair, transparent, credible, secure and inclusive.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), in its last meeting of the current session, met this morning to fill the remaining vacancies on its Bureau for the upcoming sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. The Committee elected by acclamation Hossam Aly ( Egypt), Hilario G. Davide, Jr. (Philippines), Florian Laudi (Germany) as Vice-Chairmen, and Tetyana Pokhval’ona (Ukraine) as Rapporteur for the Assembly session.

The refusal by Myanmar’s senior leadership to allow Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not only a deep disappointment, but also a major lost opportunity for the country, he told the Security Council today. Briefing the Council on his recent visit to Myanmar, he said that allowing such a meeting would have sent a constructive, conciliatory signal inside the country and abroad.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon this afternoon spelled out five key ways to help post-conflict countries achieve sustainable peace more rapidly and effectively, as he addressed the Peacebuilding Commission’s third session.

While welcoming West Africa’s positive strides in post-conflict recovery, peacebuilding and governance today, the Security Council noted with “deep concern” the fragile nature of those achievements, and stressed the importance of adopting a comprehensive strategy to tackle a raft of emerging threats in the subregion.

Significant progress had been made in the integration of local armed groups into the Congolese military, and in their incorporation into its operations against foreign fighters, but the two processes had engendered serious humanitarian consequences for the civilian population, Alan Doss, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the Security Council this morning.

Condemning the renewed attacks against Somalia’s fledgling unity Government and war-weary civilian population by Al Shabaab and other violent opposition groups, the Security Council today demanded an immediate end to that offensive, saying it would promptly consider what action to take against Eritrea and others providing support to armed groups and foreign fighters undermining the peace and reconciliation process in the strife-torn Horn of Africa country.

The General Assembly today endorsed the outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development, which, among other things, outlined the need for sustained follow-up within the United Nations system to the issues raised during that historic meeting held from 24 to 30 June.