Security Council: No name

On 5 March 2012, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) approved the addition of the entry 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 1 of Security Council resolution 1989 (2011) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

Gravely concerned by reports of violent cross-border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan, the Security Council today demanded that all parties, including proxy forces, cease all military operations in the border areas and put an end to the cycle of violence.

Security Council members affirmed this morning that the period of political transition in Somalia must end in August and that, in order to meet that deadline, the country’s leaders, supported by the international community, must use the results of the 23 February London Conference to pursue a comprehensive strategy for peace, security and development.

On 1 March 2012, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) approved the addition of the entry specified below to the Committee’s List (the 1988 Sanctions List) of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1988 (2011).

Challenges and opportunities in North Africa and the Middle East and the situations in Somalia, Haiti and Afghanistan would be highlighted at the Security Council in March, the permanent representative of the United Kingdom, which holds the body’s rotating presidency for the month, told correspondents this afternoon.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Mark Lyall Grant (United Kingdom):

Reporting the peaceful celebration of the first anniversary of the start of Libya’s revolution and progress in the country on elections, security, human rights and humanitarian concerns, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Libya presented a hopeful picture of Libya’s future to the Security Council this morning.

Expressing deep concern about piracy and armed robbery at sea in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, the Security Council this morning urged States of the region to act with dispatch to counter the scourge at the national and regional levels, encouraging international partners to provide support for regional patrols, coordination centres and the implementation of a region-wide strategy.

The Security Council, recalling its decision of 22 December 2010 to establish an International Residual Mechanism to “continue the functions” of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in anticipation of completion of the courts’ work, this morning appointed the Prosecutor of the “Mechanism”, to begin his four-year term tomorrow, 1 March.

The United Nations top political official told the Security Council this morning that the talks that had started between Israelis and Palestinians in Amman, Jordan, on 3 January had, unfortunately, “stalled”. “So far, prospects for the resumption of direct bilateral negotiations remain dim,” B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said in his monthly briefing on the Middle East.