The Security Council today condemned in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 6 January 2016 “in violation and flagrant disregard” of the relevant resolutions, its actions thereby constituting a challenge to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
With Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) a growing threat to Libya, as well as the wider region and beyond, the fight against violent extremism in that country could only be sustainable if it was led by a national unity Government, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative there told the Security Council today.
Determining that the situation in South Sudan remained a threat to regional peace and security, the Security Council today renewed until 15 April sanctions — including a travel ban and asset freeze — imposed by resolution 2206 (2015) and directed at those blocking peace in the country.
Africa would be at the heart of the Security Council’s work in March, with the 15-member body travelling to the continent ahead of open debates on the Great Lakes region and the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, the Permanent Representative of Angola, the 15-member body’s President for the month, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
On 29 February 2016, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entries specified below to its Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
Polarization of the political landscape in Kosovo in recent months had reached a level where progress was being impeded, but there was also an opportunity to shift the focus onto more fundamental post-conflict issues, the Security Council heard today during its first briefing of the year on the situation there.
The Security Council today decided to appoint Serge Brammertz as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals for a term beginning on 1 March 2016 and ending on 30 June 2018.
Voicing deep concern over the situation in Ukraine, the Chair-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stressed the need for greater confidence- and security-building measures amid the conflict there.
An hour before it was due to go into effect, the Security Council today endorsed the cessation of hostilities agreement aimed at ending five years of bloodshed in Syria.
The most important elements of the Security Council’s work in February were still to come, speakers said during the 15-member organ’s monthly “wrap-up” meeting today.
