Senior United Nations officials sounded alarms in the Security Council today over increased fighting in north-west Syria among parties trying to advance their military interests, pointing to “unimaginable” consequences if critical players do not exert the political will needed to end the protracted conflict.
The Force Commanders of peacekeeping missions in Darfur and Cyprus briefed the Security Council today on their cooperation with host countries, focusing on civilian protection, improving personnel performance and navigating complex sociopolitical shifts — including those currently unfolding in Sudan.
The “unwinnable” conflict in Yemen is worsening, with 20 million Yemenis lacking enough food and only marginal changes in power dynamics since fighting broke out in 2015, top United Nations officials warned the Security Council today, amid calls for parties to fully implement the Stockholm and Hodeidah Agreements designed to end the acute humanitarian crisis.
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Burundi is planning to return to East Africa for consultations alongside Uganda President Yoweri Museveni that will form the basis of the Secretary-General’s recommendations on the way forward in that country, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, told the Security Council today.
Given the significant political developments unfolding in Sudan, the Security Council must carefully consider the options for the drawdown and liquidation of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the head of United Nations peacekeeping said today.
With Middle East crises occupying a significant portion of its agenda, the Security Council today expressed its intention to promote closer cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States in the fields of conflict early warning, prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and sustaining peace.
Extending the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which expires on 30 June, will enable it to consolidate political and security gains amid efforts to implement the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation, the Organization’s top official in the Sahel nation told the Security Council today.
The United Nations should explore greater use of conflict prevention and mediation tools enshrined in its founding Charter, speakers told the Security Council today, as it examined the Organization’s long-standing culture of spending billions of dollars on addressing crises after failing to contain them before they fester.
The Security Council adopted today its first-ever resolution dealing specifically with persons reported missing in armed conflict, with briefers and delegates — concerned that the number of such cases worldwide is showing no signs of abating — demanding greater political will to address the problem.
The Security Council today renewed measures designed to implement the arms embargo against Libya for another year, in particular those authorizing Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off the country’s coast when reasonable grounds exist to believe they are violating the ban.
