Meetings Coverage

Acting by consensus as it began its resumed 2009 session this morning, the Special Committee on Decolonization approved three draft resolutions, on dissemination of decolonization information; the question of sending visiting and special missions to Non-Self-Governing Territories; and on information from those Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter.

The Sudan had a responsibility under the United Nations Charter to arrest President Omer al-Bashir and other Sudanese citizens charged with crimes in the violence-wracked Darfur region, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told the Security Council today.

Following up the adoption of Security Council resolution 1872 (2009) last week, which authorized the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to carry out its existing mandate until 31 January 2010, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the Secretary-General’s request for commitment authority to continue the provision of a logistical support package for the Mission, along with the continuation of technical and expert advice to the Union.

Speakers in the Security Council today called on the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to continue to expedite the completion of all cases still on their dockets, while stressing the need for optimal mechanisms to take care of all residual tasks as their completion deadlines loomed.

The Fifth Community (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon took up the proposed $68.28 million budget for the United Nations Logistics Base in Brindisi, whose role is expected to expand significantly in the financial year beginning 1 July.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up financing of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), representatives of Serbia and Russian Federation questioned a proposed 76.2 per cent reduction in the budget of the Mission, which reflected a drawdown in personnel from an approved strength of 4,911 in 2008/09 to a proposed strength of 507 for 2009/10.

Deeply concerned about the possible security implications of climate change, the General Assembly today invited the major organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council, to intensify their efforts to address the challenge, as appropriate and within their respective mandates.

The $768.19 million proposed budget for the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) for 2009/10 represented an increase of 74.3 per cent, compared to the 2008/09 period, due to the projected phased deployment of 5,183 military contingent personnel, for which the Mission would require a total of 30 aircraft and seven additional helicopters, United Nations Controller, Jun Yamazaki, told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning.

The Security Council this afternoon welcomed the announcement of a time frame for long-postponed presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire, endorsed by all political actors and leading to a first round of voting on 29 November 2009.

Strongly urging the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to increase the momentum in the United Nations-backed talks aimed at reunifying the divided island nation, the Security Council today extended through mid-December the world body’s long-running peacekeeping operation in Cyprus.