The Central African Republic was entering a “crucial” phase of its delicate return to stability, the Special Representative in the country told the Security Council today, stressing that support from international and regional partners was critical for ensuring a smooth political transition and access to those still in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Imposing sanctions on individuals it said were undermining the stability of Yemen, the Security Council today demanded that all parties in the embattled country, in particular the Houthis, immediately and unconditionally end violence and refrain from further unilateral actions that threatened the political transition.
The international community must continue to support dialogue between the Malian parties to achieve a political solution to the crisis to which they would all adhere, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council this morning.
The Security Council today authorized the resumed drawdown for the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) — suspended since September due to the Ebola outbreak — and narrowed its mandate to exclude assistance for senatorial elections that were held in December 2014.
The situation in the Middle East, protection of children in armed conflict and crises in Africa dominated the Council’s schedule, the Permanent Representative of France, President of the body for March, said in a monthly wrap-up meeting this afternoon.
Unless well-targeted humanitarian assistance reached those fleeing Boko Haram’s increasingly brutal attacks, more than 3 million people in northern Nigeria would be unable to meet basic food needs in the coming months and millions more would be affected, top United Nations officials said, briefing the Security Council on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.
Unanimously adopting two separate resolutions this evening on Libya, the Security Council, in the first, called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and extended the United Nations Support Mission there (UNSMIL) until 15 September, and in the second, adjusted the arms embargo on the country in light of the terrorist threat there.
From Syria and Iraq to Libya and Yemen, the cultural and religious fabric in the Middle East, intricately woven over centuries, was being torn apart by terrorists intent on eliminating the very diversity that had given rise to many of the world’s great civilizations, the Security Council heard today as speakers implored it to help end the fighting and urgently protect the region’s minorities.
A year after the adoption of resolution 2139 (2014), the situation in Syria had dramatically worsened, characterized by “breath-taking levels of savagery”, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.
The Security Council today authorized an increase of 750 military personnel, 280 police personnel and 20 corrections officers for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), over the levels authorized by resolution 2149 (2014).
