Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today decided to extend for another 12 months the mandate of its one-year-old integrated office in Haiti, adopting a technical rollover that made no changes to its original mandate.

Welcoming today’s large‑scale prisoner release in Yemen as “an airlift of hope” for ending the suffering caused by the long conflict in the country, speakers in the Security Council today called on the Government and Houthi rebels to build on that hope to stop the fighting and negotiate a lasting solution to the conflict.

The Security Council today welcomed the elaboration of transitional political arrangements in Mali and underlined the need to fully adhere to their terms, issuing a presidential statement in the wake of developments unfolding rapidly in the West African nation.

Amid concern about unceasing hurdles to the exercise of political freedoms and human rights in the Great Lakes region, the United Nations is launching a new strategy focused on preventive diplomacy, security cooperation and development, the Secretary‑General’s senior political official for the strife‑torn area told the Security Council today, noting that the plan would guide the Organization’s action for the next 10 years.

Expressing concern over Turkey’s recently announced plan to open the coastline of Varosha, a city on the eastern edge of Cyprus, the Security Council called today for a reversal of that decision and for the parties to avoid any unilateral action that could raise tensions on the island.

In the tumultuous weeks following Mali’s most recent coup d’état, robust regional leadership and a new transition plan have emerged as promising signs that the country can emerge from its “hellish cycle” of mistrust, violence and repeated Government overthrows, a senior United Nations told the Security Council today.

Condemning all migrant smuggling and human trafficking off the coast of Libya today, the Security Council renewed for another year its authorization for Member States to inspect vessels outside that country’s territorial waters, when there are reasonable grounds to believe they are participating in those illicit activities.

The recent normalization of relations between Israel and two Arab countries presents an opportunity to re-engage Palestine and Israel in negotiations towards a two-State solution to their long-standing conflict, a senior United Nations mediator told the Security Council today.

On the heels of considerable political progress in Sudan, the global community should help the country weave together its patchwork of recent peace agreements into a “single, unfractured vision of the future”, senior officials said today, as they briefed the Security Council on latest developments.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and related reporting requirements until 25 September 2021.