Twenty years after the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Kosovo, the situation there is fragile, the Organization’s top political official in the region told the Security Council today, citing recent developments, including a police raid against organized crime in Serb-majority municipalities that resulted in the controversial arrest of mission personnel.
Consultations around peacekeeping, political or other mandates must be interactive, direct and focused on political strategy, a briefer told the Security Council today as it held an open debate on its own working methods.
Despite recent political and security gains, Central Africa still faces looming threats — from the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Cameroon to Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — requiring local solutions alongside strong continuing international support, the head of the regional United Nations office told the Security Council today.
Renewing its authorization of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for one year ahead of national elections in 2020, the Security Council decided to maintain deployment and reduce uniformed personnel by 1,000 in line with the existing plan to gradually transfer such responsibilities to Somali security forces.
The Security Council decided today to renew until 31 May 2020 the arms embargo it imposed on South Sudan last year, as well as the sanctions put into place in 2015 on those blocking peace in the country.
The humanitarian response to fighting in north-western Syria, including Idlib, is stretched and further military action will overwhelm all ability to respond, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs warned the Security Council today, appealing to the 15-member body to take immediate action.
Along with holding perpetrators to account, the experiences and needs of civilian communities who suffer the daily brutalities of armed conflict must be incorporated into measures that protect them, speakers told the Security Council during an open debate today as it marked the twentieth anniversary of placing “the protection of civilians” on its agenda.
With the recent flare-up of violence in Gaza as the central topic of discussion in the Security Council today, members also considered the funding shortage affecting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The tasks of restoring cooperation between Somalia’s two tiers of government and denying Al-Shabaab the space to prepare and launch its attacks are vital for the country’s progress, senior officials told the Security Council today.
The ongoing political infighting is a costly obstacle to progress in Iraq, where corruption remains pervasive and top ministerial posts remain vacant, the senior United Nations official there told the Security Council today, as it decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations assistance mission in that country until 31 May 2020.
