Security Council: Meetings Coverage

Piracy off the coast of Somalia was not only a criminal activity, but it was, first of all, a very successful business, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Political Office there told the Security Council today.

The Security Council this morning authorized for another year, until 18 November 2010, the European Union Stabilization Force (EUFOR) mandated to ensure continued compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.

Expressing its strong endorsement of continuing assistance by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in preparations for upcoming elections, the Security Council this morning welcomed the parliamentary agreement which would allow the polls to take place in January 2010.

Terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-State actors continued to be a threat to international peace and security, and cooperation was a crucial element in the efforts to counter that threat, Ranko Vilovic ( Croatia) told the Security Council today.

Expressing deep regret that civilians continued to account for the vast majority of casualties in armed conflicts, the Security Council reaffirmed today its readiness to respond to the targeting of civilians and the blocking of humanitarian aid, as it opened a day-long debate on the matter.

The slide to war that had threatened Africa’s Great Lakes region last year had been reversed, but the underlying causes of repeated crises must be dealt with, Olusegun Obasanjo, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the region, told the Security Council this morning.

Briefing the Security Council today, the Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal, Karin Landgren, urged the parties in Nepal to make the most of the 11 weeks remaining in the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the country, and to break their deadlock.

Welcoming the peaceful presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau held on 28 June and 26 July, the Security Council today took note of the commitment of the new President of the country to combat impunity, foster national reconciliation and achieve socio-economic development.

The Security Council this afternoon condemned, in the strongest terms, the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the 28 October terrorist attack that took the lives of several United Nations staff members and others in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Security Council this morning adopted its annual report to the General Assembly for the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.