Stretched thin between the interlinked challenges of desertification, poverty and rising violent extremism, resolving challenges facing the Sahel region of Africa would require accelerated regional action and urgent international support, the Security Council heard during a series of briefings today.
Justice and the rule of law remained critical key elements for the return to stability in Libya, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told the Security Council this morning as it addressed the situation in that country.
During its recent visiting mission to the Horn of Africa, Council members reaffirmed the Security Council’s support for the ongoing political process in Somalia and met with top officials to address the region’s security and humanitarian challenges, co-leaders of the mission told the 15-member body in their briefing this morning.
The Security Council today terminated, with immediate effect, the sanctions regime on Liberia, including the arms restrictions that had remained following gradual lifting of measures as the Council deemed that progress had been made in emerging from the devastating civil conflict of past decades.
Following an invitation by the President of Egypt to mediate between Palestinian factions, and ahead of a Paris meeting to reaffirm commitment to a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process today called upon both sides to “continue the historic step taken towards peace by Israel and Egypt” 37 years ago.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta (Egypt):
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta (Egypt):
A stronger, more forward-looking peace and security partnership between the United Nations and the African Union was now achievable following the adoption of a new road map for African efforts and recent reviews of the international peace and security architecture, the Security Council said in a statement issued during an all-day debate today.
On 18 May 2016, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2127 (2013) concerning the Central African Republic received updates on the situation in the Central African Republic from representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) is a key instrument in global efforts to prevent non-State actors, in particular terrorists, from threatening society with weapons of mass destruction, whether nuclear, chemical or biological. The resolution does this by requiring States to adopt laws with penalties that make such actions criminal, whether undertaken directly or by financing or assisting them; and by requiring States to implement wide-ranging domestic controls designed to keep weapons of mass destruction or the means to produce them out of the hands of non-State actors.
