Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs provided an update to the Security Council on the situation in Ukraine today, as the 15-member body held its second meeting on the subject in three days.

Addressing an emergency meeting today, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations called on the Security Council to do everything possible to prevent military intervention by the Russian Federation.

The success of upcoming legislative elections would be critical to the future economic and social stability of Guinea-Bissau’s, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country told the Security Council today.

A comprehensive and sustainable peace in Mali could only truly be realized by the country’s people themselves, with the full backing of the international community, France’s representative told the Security Council today.

Sending a message of support to the Government and people of Yemen, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming recent progress in the country’s political transition and expressed strong support for the completion of next steps, among them drafting a new constitution, and holding a referendum as well as general elections.

Despite multiple crises and “fault lines” requiring urgent attention, the quest for peace in the Middle East over the last seven months had come closer than other recent efforts to making a real and much-needed contribution to regional stability, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council today.

With tensions easing in Ukraine, Europe’s priorities would include enhancing security and stability, improving people’s lives and strengthening the capacity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to act, the head of that entity told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today, following its 19 February open debate on the rule of law, emphasized the vital importance of promoting justice and the rule of law as an “indispensable element” for peaceful coexistence and the prevention of armed conflict.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Security Council today, urged deployment of at least 3,000 more troops and police in the Central African Republic to reinforce existing African Union and French forces, also proposing that those be brought under a single command, with a view to the handover to a future United Nations peacekeeping operation there.