Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended until 15 December 2015 the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping operation for the disputed Abyei area bordering Sudan and South Sudan.

With Burundi “back on the brink”, all political stakeholders in that country needed to put national well-being above narrow ambitions in order to preserve the hard-won gains towards building democratic institutions and a common community, the Security Council heard today from two top United Nations officials.

During a meeting held to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the massacres in Srebrenica, the Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have emphasized acceptance of those tragic events as genocide as a prerequisite for national reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Continuing attacks by Boko Haram, risks of election instability in several nations, transnational organized crime and Ebola were current top concerns in West Africa, a United Nations official in the region told the Security Council this afternoon.

Peacekeeping, peacebuilding and children in armed conflict had been the centrepieces of the Security Council’s work over the past four weeks, said the Permanent Representative of Malaysia, President of the body for June, in a monthly wrap-up meeting this afternoon.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court this afternoon urged Member States and the Security Council to play their crucial roles in securing Sudan’s compliance in bringing to justice those charged with grave crimes, following the Council’s referral of the situation in Darfur.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months, until 31 December 2015, requesting the Secretary-General to ensure that the Mission had the required capacity and resources to fulfil its mandate in a safe and secure way.

As a “nightmare of violence and destruction” continued without end in Syria, it was crucial for humanitarian workers to use every route, across borders and conflict lines, to deliver live-saving aid, a top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council this morning.

The Security Council this morning renewed the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in Sudan until 30 June 2016, maintaining current authorized strength and the priority of civilian protection along with benchmarks for eventual completion of the mission.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) until 30 June 2016, within the authorized troop ceiling of 11,240 military personnel, including, for the first time, at least 40 military observers in order to monitor and supervise the country’s ceasefire.