The Security Council underscored the importance of long-term institution-building as a critical part of peacebuilding in Africa, as it held an open debate today on the topic where speakers emphasized the importance of addressing the root causes of conflict, the need for predictable and sustainable financing, and closer cooperation with the African Union and subregional organizations.
The Security Council today welcomed the merging of the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sahel with the United Nations Office for West Africa, encouraging the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the region to ensure a unified management structure for the new United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).
Violence by Boko Haram had led to massive forced displacement and a widespread humanitarian crisis in West Africa’s Lake Chad Basin, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as speakers called for increased international support for regional efforts to combat terrorism and meet the needs of 9.2 million people facing unimaginable desperation across four countries.
The Security Council today extended until 15 November 2017 the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), adapting it to the new circumstances prevailing in that country.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months, until 31 January 2017, encouraging the country’s Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to grasp with determination the current opportunity to secure a comprehensive and durable settlement of the crisis dividing their island nation.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) until 31 July 2017, emphasizing the importance of efforts to support the country’s stabilization, particularly those areas liberated from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).
The United Nations humanitarian affairs chief called today for the immediate establishment of a weekly, 48-hour pause in fighting so that urgently needed assistance could reach 250,000 people trapped in besieged eastern Aleppo and other hard-to-reach places in Syria.
The Security Council today authorized Member States to acquire, control, transport, transfer and destroy chemical weapons identified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Libya to ensure that the country’s stockpile was eliminated in the “soonest and safest” manner.
The Security Council, in a statement issued this morning, urged Lebanon’s leaders to show flexibility and to put stability and the national interest ahead of partisan politics, as it reaffirmed its call for the country’s Parliament to convene urgently to elect a new President.
The Security Council must adopt its provisional rules of procedure, regularly consult with troop- and police-contributing countries, restrict veto use and make it easier for the wider United Nations membership to access — and understand — its deliberations, speakers in the 15-member body said today, as they reported mixed reviews on efforts to improve working methods over the last decade.
