Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council this morning decided to extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for one year, ending 13 October 2011, while stressing the importance of comprehensively building the Afghan security sector to ensure the rule of law throughout the country.

A number of key events in Afghanistan, including the Consultative Peace Jirga, the 20 July international Kabul Conference and the holding of parliamentary elections on 18 September, were stepping stones towards the full exercise of that country’s sovereign authority, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan told the Security Council today.

The Security Council this morning decided to authorize a temporary increase of 500 personnel for the military and police contingents of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), recalling its intention to do so to contribute to security before, during and after elections.

The Security Council this morning ended an arms embargo and other sanctions imposed on Sierra Leone during its brutal civil war, while, in a separate text, it extended the mandate for the Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the country (UNIPSIL) for one year, until 15 September 2011.

Sierra Leone had made great strides from civil war to stability, but required continued international support in the coming critical period to ensure maintenance of stability and crucial economic advancement, the Secretary-General’s Executive Representative told the Security Council this morning.

The Security Council noted with concern today that terrorism continued to pose a serious threat to international peace and security, the enjoyment of human rights and the social and economic development of all Members States, while the threat had become more diffuse and terrorist acts motivated by intolerance or extremism had increased.

In a summit meeting this afternoon, opened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and attended by nine Heads of State and Government as well as six ministers, the Security Council pledged to continue strengthening all its activities in the maintenance of international peace and security, and to adapt them to ever-changing circumstances.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process this morning called on the Security Council and the international community to maintain strong support for the recently revived direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. “Our collective task is to support these negotiations and maximize prospects for success,” said Robert Serry, who is also the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative, at the Council’s regular monthly briefing on the situation.

Reiterating its strong condemnation of mass rapes in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late July and August, the Security Council today urged that country’s Government to ensure swift and fair prosecution of the perpetrators, and expressed its readiness to consider all appropriate actions, including targeted measures against those responsible.

The growth of international terrorism, insurgency, piracy and human suffering in Somalia demanded an intensified, focused and coordinated response by the international community, the Secretary-General’s new Special Representative for the Horn of Africa country told the Security Council this morning. “Experience in Somalia has shown that the more delayed or inadequate the response is, the more complex the crisis becomes,” Augustine Mahiga said in his first appearance before the Council.