The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) has an increasingly important role as the countries in the region seek to counter an unprecedented level of violence, relentless terrorism and other cross-border threats, speakers said today, as the Security Council continued to discuss the Office’s mandate renewal.
The Security Council today failed to adopt two draft resolutions on extending the authorization for the mechanism that allows cross‑border delivery of humanitarian aid in Syria today — one tabled by Belgium, Germany and Kuwait; the other by the Russian Federation.
The Special Envoy for Syria told the Security Council today that he is forging ahead with efforts to unify Government and opposition representatives around an agreed agenda for the newly launched Constitutional Committee, aiming to bring the protracted political process back on track.
Iran’s delegate described United States sanctions against his country as “tantamount to economic terrorism”, while a senior United Nations official called for preventing a serious confrontation in the region, as the Security Council considered the milestone 2015 agreement governing Tehran’s nuclear activities.
The scale of humanitarian needs in Syria will remain vast in 2020, with an estimated 11 million civilians projected to require assistance on a regular basis and 5 million in acute need of help, a senior humanitarian official told the Security Council today, urging that a mandate for the cross-border delivery of vital aid through neighbouring countries be renewed.
Expressing concern that ongoing military activities have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and Syria, the Security Council today decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months.
The Security Council today decided to extend until 20 December 2020 the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), along with its Intervention Brigade.
With extraordinary political change under way in Sudan, its transitional Government must ensure justice for the victims of atrocities in Darfur by either prosecuting the five suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court, including former President Omer Hassan Ahmed al‑Bashir, in Sudanese courts or to send them to The Hague for trial without delay, the Chief Prosecutor told the Security Council today.
Reporting to the Security Council today that prospects for a two-State resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians continue to fade, the Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace called for the international community to go beyond rhetoric when encouraging progress.
Essential tasks in forming a transitional Government to end the tragic conflict in South Sudan must be accomplished with urgency if the parties are to meet their latest extended 100-day timeline, the top United Nations official for the country told the Security Council today.
