Security Council: Meetings Coverage

Reiterating its strong and unequivocal condemnation of terrorism, the Security Council today acknowledged the “changing nature and character” of that scourge and emphasized the need to enhance global coordination to prevent attacks, disrupt criminal networks, and cut off avenues of financing for increasingly determined and sophisticated terrorist groups and individuals.

Condemning the repeated incidents of cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan, including seizure of territory, support to proxy forces and aerial bombing, the Security Council this morning decided that Sudan and South Sudan must immediately cease all hostilities, withdraw forces, activate previously-agreed security mechanisms, and resume negotiations under threat of sanctions.

The Security Council, meeting concurrently with but independently from the General Assembly, today elected by secret ballot Dalveer Bhandari of India to fill the vacancy on the International Court of Justice created by the resignation of Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan), on 31 December 2011.

Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, briefed the Security Council today on the situation in Darfur, calling on the signatory parties to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur to live up to their commitment to implement the 2011 agreement for the sake of the region’s “long suffering” people.

To further Security Council support for Côte d’Ivoire’s fragile peace process, members today unanimously adopted a set of renewed and modified sanctions and extended an expert panel’s mandate to monitor the situation.

Concerned that illicit cross-border trafficking in arms, drugs, chemical and biological weapons and other goods amplified threats to international peace and security posed by armed conflict, terrorism, weapons proliferation and transnational organized crime, the Security Council today invited the Secretary-General to submit, in six months, an assessment of the United Nations work to help States counter those challenges.

The Security Council could play an important role in addressing the obstacles that women faced in being informed about — and participating in — formal conflict resolution, especially by encouraging mediators to pay more attention to gender issues, Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Women, said today, as she briefed the 15-member body on recent developments in the area of women, peace and security.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in Western Sahara until 30 April 2013.

Welcoming the recent agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to exchange letters and expressing hope such moves would maintain positive momentum towards resuming peace negotiations, B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said today it was now important to transform that fragile opening into an opportunity to incrementally promote dialogue, as he briefed the Security Council on the latest developments in the region, including on the question of Palestine.

Noting that the cessation of armed violence in Syria was “clearly incomplete”, and concerned about its recent escalation, the Security Council today beefed up the United Nations monitoring team of unarmed observers to that country authorized last weekend, subject to the Secretary-General’s assessment of relevant developments on the ground.