Challenges in protecting civilians, asymmetric threats faced by mission personnel and caveats imposed by troop-contributing countries figured prominently in the Security Council today, as that body heard from the top United Nations peacekeeping official and force commanders on the operational hurdles related to the implementation of peacekeeping mandates.
Exploiting the opportunities for further engagement among the committees established to counter terrorism, address the Al-Qaida threat and halt proliferation of mass destruction weapons would lead to a “multiplier effect” in the delivery of results, those bodies’ Chairs told the Security Council today.
The Security Council today expressed concern at the grave security situation in parts of Central Africa within the remit of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), in particular the ongoing crisis in the Central African Republic and its regional impact, the continuing threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and continued terrorist activities by Boko Haram.
Any exit strategy for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) must be tied to concrete improvements in the situation of people on the ground, a top United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council this morning.
As Côte d’Ivoire prepared to hold a presidential election in October, the renewal of mandate of the United Nations Operation in that country was crucial to the consolidation of the achievements made since the 2010 post-election crisis, the Security Council heard today.
The Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts that assists the Committee monitoring sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme, until 9 July 2016, while keeping the mandate under review pending developments.
The military track as a means to end the crisis in Ukraine had not been abandoned, and a prospect of a return to a deepening, intractable conflict was emerging, the Security Council heard today following the recent escalation of hostilities in eastern parts of that country.
The International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia were downsizing as quickly as possible, top officials from those courts told the Security Council today, stressing that their impending closure and transition to a smaller successor body was an opportunity to both preserve and share lessons learned in the practice of international jurisprudence.
The Security Council this morning welcomed what it called “extraordinary efforts” by States to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters to and from conflict zones, while urging stepped-up work on the issue due to growing recruitment by extremist groups, from more than 100 countries.
Strongly condemning continued fighting, human rights abuses and attacks on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the Security Council this afternoon extended the Mission’s mandate for six months, sharpening its focus on protection of civilians, without changing force structure or numbers of troops and police.
