Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended its arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 July 2018, expanding those sanctions to cover individuals and entities engaging in or providing support for acts that included planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) peacekeepers or United Nations personnel, including members of the Group of Experts.

Warning that the situation in Afghanistan was unusually tense and that a recent tide of violent terrorist attacks had brought underlying political tensions to the surface, the United Nations top official in the country urged all parties to exercise calm and the Government to take steps to improve public trust in its security sector in particular.

Regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in Burundi, Assistant Secretary-General Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told the Security Council this afternoon as it considered the situation in that country.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War, achieving a negotiated two-State outcome was the only way to lay the foundations for an enduring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Security Council heard today, as it held its regular briefing on the situation in the Middle East.

Building upon the progress it had made in 2016, the Peacebuilding Commission would now seek to review its working methods to enhance efficiency and flexibility, the Security Council heard today in its regular briefing on the intergovernmental advisory body’s work.

Despite progress towards peace in Mali, terrorist attacks remained a major obstacle, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country told the Security Council today, as the State’s Foreign Minister called for the Council’s authority to deploy a regional counter-terrorism force so as to keep the nation on the road to reconciliation.

Expressing grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Security Council today adopted a presidential statement calling on all parties to engage constructively and in good faith to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in that country.

Although some progress had been made in the ongoing investigations of chemical weapon use in Syria, Security Council members must avoid politicizing the issue, the United Nations disarmament chief urged the 15-nation body as she briefed them on the matter today.

The United Nations must move away from ad hoc arrangements towards a more institutionalized approach for the joint planning, mandating, financing and supporting of African Union peace-support operations, speakers told the Security Council today as it took up proposals in that regard.

With the level of armed hostilities significantly lower than in previous years, the focus of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) should be readjusted as the mission reduced the number of peacekeepers deployed in that region of western Sudan, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today.