Security Council: Meetings Coverage

Expressing serious concern at continued fighting and condemning terrorist attacks by armed groups and foreign fighters, the Security Council today extended its authorization of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) until 30 September 2011. Unanimously adopting resolution 1964 (2010) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council requested the African Union to increase AMISOM’s force strength from the current mandated level of 8,000 troops to a maximum of 12,000.

Pointing out that in his youth during the Korean War, the United Nations had been a “beacon of hope”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged members of the Security Council to act decisively to enable the Organization to keep that status, as he spoke at a special event for youth sponsored by the United States, whose delegation holds that body’s rotating presidency for the month.

Commending the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), as its mandate expires this month, the Security Council this morning called on donors to assist the Governments of the two countries of the Mission’s former area of operation to fulfil their increased responsibility in protecting civilians there.

Noting with concern that terrorism continued to pose a serious threat to international peace and security and underscoring the central role of the United Nations in that global fight, the Security Council today decided that the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) would continue to operate as a special political mission under the policy guidance of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee for another three years, through 31 December 2013.

Condemning in the strongest possible terms the attempts to usurp the will of the people and undermine the integrity of the electoral process, the Security Council this morning renewed the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) until 30 June 2011 and urged all parties to respect the will of the people and the election outcome in view of the recognition by ECOWAS and the African Union of Alassane Ouattara as the newly elected President of Côte d’Ivoire.

The outgoing members of the Security Council — Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda — delivered briefings this morning on the work of subsidiary bodies they had chaired during their two-year tenure.

The international community must apply innovative thinking to reduce tensions generated by critical election processes in West Africa, Said Djinnit, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the United Nations Office in the subregion told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today renewed for 12 months its arms embargo on Liberia and its travel ban on persons deemed threatening to the country’s peace process.

“Women now are watching and waiting,” Margot Wallström, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told the Security Council today as it concluded its debate on that subject. Pledging not to rest until sexual violence in conflict situations had been eliminated, she said that, with the Council’s unanimous adoption of resolution 1960 (2010) yesterday, the tools to end it were available and now they must be used.

As it began a two-day open debate on women and peace and security, the Security Council today requested the Secretary-General to supply it with detailed information on parties credibly suspected of responsibility for patterns of sexual violence during armed conflict.