Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today renewed for 12 months its travel ban on persons deemed to be a threat to the peace in Liberia and readjusted its arms embargo to allow the Liberian Government, as well as the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, to receive certain military materiel for the same time period.

Emphasizing the need for the international community to maintain its support for peace consolidation and long-term development in Burundi, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in that country, known as BINUB, for one year, until 31 December 2010.

Progress in the coming year should allow the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to hone its task of helping ensure the future stability of the vast central African country, Alan Doss, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, told the Security Council today.

The Security Council, while urging the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to take all possible measures to complete its work, today allowed one of its judges to serve beyond the expiry of his term of office so he could complete work on cases in which he was involved.

Urging the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to take all possible measures to complete its work, the Security Council today allowed several judges to serve beyond the expiry of their term of office to enable them to complete work on cases in which they were involved.

The Security Council today renewed the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has supervised the ceasefire between Israel and Syria since 1974, for the next six months until 30 June 2010.

Despite raised hopes, the overall political, security and socio-economic situation in the Central African Republic remained “fragile and challenging”, the senior United Nations representative in that country told the Security Council today.

Urging the parties in Cyprus to build on previous progress in negotiations for the reunification of the divided island by intensifying the momentum of talks, the Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force there, known as UNFICYP, until 15 June 2010.

The outgoing members of the Security Council -– Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Viet Nam –- delivered briefings today on the work of subsidiary bodies they had chaired during their two-year tenure.

Burundi was making commendable progress in emerging from the civil conflict that had ravaged the country for more than a decade, but it required continued international assistance in several critical areas, Youssef Mahmoud, Executive Representative of the Secretary-General, told the Security Council today.