Security Council: No name

United Nations Peacebuilding Commission emphasized its convening role and the value of partnerships, as well as the need to improve coordination with the Council’s own activities in order to better advise the 15-nation organ.

The Security Council today extended its arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 July 2019 and the mandate of the Expert Group assisting the Sanctions Committee through 1 August 2019.

Peace in South Sudan would only be sustainable through a fair and inclusive revitalized peace agreement that would take the root causes of the conflict into account, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today, as members of the 15-nation organ cautiously welcomed the rapprochement between the country’s President and former First Vice-President.

The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) for another year today, maintaining its 13,289 troops and 1,920 police personnel while requesting that the Secretary-General expedite the generation of forces and assets.

Nearly three years after its unanimous endorsement by the Security Council, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear issue was at a crossroads in the wake of the decision by the United States to withdraw from that agreement, the top United Nations official for political matters told the 15-nation organ today.

The Special Envoy for Syria warned the Security Council today that a full-scale battle in the country’s previously calm south-west could engulf an area and population the size of eastern Ghouta and Aleppo combined, adding that events seemed to be moving in that direction.

The Security Council decided today to re-appoint Serge Brammertz of Belgium as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for a term beginning on 1 July 2018 and ending on 30 June 2020.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vassily A. Nebenzia (Russian Federation):

There were unprecedented opportunities for Afghanistan to seek peace and consolidate its political foundation, the Special Representative for that country told the Security Council today, pressing the international community to seize that critical opening to adjust how it supported the war-torn nation in bringing about democracy and self-reliance.

Security Council members, particularly those with permanent seats, must overcome their differences and unite to tackle a complex web of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, speakers said during a day-long debate in which several Member States suggested the creation of a regional mechanism — styled on the 1975 Helsinki Final Act — to foster dialogue and build trust.