Marking the twelfth anniversary of their 2011 revolt against Libya’s longstanding leader, Muammar Gadhafi, the country’s people remain frustrated by a lack of political progress and impatient for change, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, proposing a new mechanism to support the holding of crucial elections in 2023.
Ministers, senior officials and representatives from around the world called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for peace talks to commence, decrying the crimes being committed against civilians and children, while warning against escalation of the conflict into a third world war, as the Security Council addressed for the second time in a week the impact of the conflict on both the region and the international community.
Warning of a “deficit in multilateralism”, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief told Security Council today that the proliferation of conflicts and problems around the world are mounting as the collective capacity to find solutions declines.
The Federal Government of Somalia has made significant progress since the Council last took up the situation in September 2022 — including on such national priorities as the fight against the Al-Shabaab terrorist group — senior officials told the Security Council today, as members warned that an ongoing drought is expected to render half the population food insecure by mid-2023 and place the country at increased risk of famine.
With the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine just days away, the senior United Nations political affairs official told the Security Council today that the Organization is not in a position to verify or confirm any recent claims regarding alleged acts of sabotage against the two Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, in September 2022.
Upcoming local elections — the first planned in the Central African Republic since 1988 — present the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to advance the country’s peace and political process, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members highlighted the deteriorating security and socioeconomic situations and their heavy toll on civilians.
The latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is dangerously heightening tensions in the region, a United Nations senior official stressed as he briefed the Security Council today, urging it to show unity in bringing Pyongyang back into dialogue to end its escalating weapons programme.
The Security Council today adopted a presidential statement expressing its deep concern and dismay over Israel’s recent announcement of further construction and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the “legalization” of settlement outposts, as United Nations senior officials briefed members on the latest developments on the ground.
One week ahead of the one-year mark of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the Security Council met today to discuss the collapse of the Minsk agreements, with several delegates noting that what was once intended to be a blueprint for the 2014 crisis has turned into Moscow’s leverage to limit the sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Security Council, acting unanimously today, decided to renew for nine months a travel ban and assets freeze imposed on specific individuals and entities in Yemen, while extending for 10 months the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with assisting their Yemen sanctions committee.
