In an emergency Security Council meeting today requested by Ukraine following the seizure of three its naval vessels by Russian Federation warships in a waterway near Crimea, the United Nations top political official urged restraint from both sides to prevent dangerous escalation.
Describing the situation in Burundi as calm but fragile, the senior United Nations official there told the Security Council today that after supporting a regionally-led inter-Burundian Dialogue process for more than three years, the time has now come for partners to re-evaluate how best to help the country out of its long-standing political impasse.
Strengthening cooperation with the African Union, including by providing it with adequate financing, is key to strengthening peacekeeping operations on the continent, speakers told the Security Council as it held a day-long open debate on that subject.
Reiterating the importance of convening a constitutional committee as a first step towards a political solution to the crisis in Syria, the Secretary‑General’s Special Envoy for that country told the Security Council today that the United Nations is open to any suggestions on the list of disputed attendees that allows inclusive participation by civil society.
Against the backdrop of a tenuous calm, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process today warned the Security Council that the Gaza Strip remains on the brink of an armed conflict that holds catastrophic consequences for some two million impoverished Palestinians living there.
Delivering impassioned pleas on behalf of 14 million civilians teetering on the edge of famine in Yemen, senior United Nations and civil society leaders today briefed a largely unified Security Council on political and humanitarian steps forward, emphasizing that a new “window of hope” has now opened in that country’s devastating and overlooked war.
With a new roadmap for peace in South Sudan facing persistent challenges, the integral involvement of women is vital, along with international support to ensure that the country’s leaders fulfil their responsibilities, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today.
Against a complex backdrop of expanding terrorist threats and mounting hopelessness in Africa’s Sahel region, several senior officials today urged the United Nations and other partners to boost their support to the regional force established to combat those threats, as they briefed the Security Council on recent developments.
Unanimously adopting resolution 2446 (2018), the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) for one month until 15 December, with the mandate being maintained as set out in resolution 2387 (2017).
The Security Council today decided to extend until 15 May 2019 the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) ‑ operating in an oil-rich contested area on the border of Sudan and South Sudan ‑ while simultaneously reducing the Mission’s military troops and increasing its police presence.
