Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) until 30 November, deciding further to increase the 4,200-strong troop presence in the contested border town to 5,326 peacekeepers, as requested by Sudan and South Sudan on 8 March, through the Joint Political and Security Mechanism.

With “grave turmoil” on the ground threatening stability across the Middle East, a top United Nations official warned the Security Council today that the coming weeks would be critical on two major diplomatic fronts — negotiations to halt the increasingly bloody crisis in Syria, and ending the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Acting on the recommendation of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) for one year, deciding also to readjust its presence so it could help the West African nation restore constitutional order following the 2012 military coup and hold elections by the end of this year.

An already challenging situation in the Central African Republic had descended into a “state of anarchy and total disregard for international law”, as elements of the Séléka rebel group — which had seized power in a 24 March coup d’état — had turned their vengeance against an innocent population, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political leaders faced an increasingly stark choice, the United Nations High Representative in that country told the Security Council today, stressing that they could either “fail together” by remaining mired in disagreements or “succeed together” by reaching healthy compromises and standing firm against those who sought to reopen wounds of the past.

An “arc of instability” was stretching across Africa’s Sahara and Sahel region, and if left unchecked, it could transform the continent into a breeding ground for extremists and a launch pad for larger-scale terrorist attacks around the world, delegates in the Security Council stressed today during a high-level debate on combating that growing scourge across the region.

While concerted multilateral action was needed to root out barbarous terrorist attacks from Boston to Karachi, the United Nations counter-terrorism machinery was only as good as “the sum of its parts”, the Security Council was told this morning as it reviewed the work of its three anti-terrorism Committees.

The formidable social, economic and security challenges facing Guinea-Bissau following its May 2012 coup d’état were not insurmountable, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today, stressing that they must be tackled through a two-phase process: a return to constitutional order through year-end elections and a post-electoral strengthening of State bodies through adequately financed reforms.

The trials of those charged with committing the most heinous crimes in Libya during former leader Muammar Qadhafi’s 42-year reign could be the country’s “Nuremberg moment” — no matter where they took place — the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the Security Council today, stressing that, above all that, they must be a “shining example” of what could be achieved through human endeavours to seek justice.

The upcoming fortieth anniversary of the accord that formed the backbone of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should serve as a catalyst to re-energize the 57-member body, Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs told the Security Council today, as he sketched out the priorities for his country’s Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2013.