Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council decided today to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for 12 months, until 31 October 2020.

Briefers and delegations welcomed a growing strategic partnership between the African Union and the United Nations in matters of peace and security at the Security Council today, while calling for measures to bolster the effectiveness of that cooperation.

Free, peaceful and transparent elections in 2020 are key to a stable future in Burundi, the Security Council heard today, as members diverged on whether the country — now emerging from its 2015 political crisis — still merits a place on the organ’s agenda.

The Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2492 (2019) today, urging States to recommit themselves to its women, peace and security agenda — now approaching its twentieth anniversary — including by creating safe environments for women leaders, peacebuilders, human rights defenders and political actors around the globe.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process underlined today the urgent need for preventive diplomacy to ensure a fair and lasting peace as “new dangerous flashpoints emerge” in the region.

Whereas long-standing restrictions on the importation of weapons have largely prevented their flow into the hands of Al-Shabaab — a group responsible for ongoing terror attacks across the Horn of Africa — those measures require updating to better reflect reality on the ground, the head of the Security Council’s Somalia Sanctions Committee said today.

The ranking United Nations official in the Central African Republic appealed to the Security Council today to renew the mandate of the Organization’s peacekeeping mission in that country with a focus on elections planned for 2020 and 2021, as well as other challenges.

The recent escalation of hostilities in north‑east Syria — following a Turkish military operation launched on 9 October — has exacerbated the safety and well‑being of the area’s 3 million residents, a top United Nations humanitarian official warned the Security Council today, adding that nearly 180,000 people have fled that border region in just two weeks.

Given the increased cooperation between Sudan and South Sudan on a host of issues, it is time for the parties to finally make progress on the status of the disputed area of Abyei, the Under‑Secretary‑General for Peace Operations told the Security Council today.

The head of United Nations Peace Operations called upon the Security Council today to help the Government of Sudan and armed movements in Darfur to seize the opportunities for building comprehensive peace arising from recent political change in the country.