The recent consensus among Somalia’s leaders on a plan to hold forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections through indirect voting ended a two-year political stalemate between the Federal Government and federal member states, the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council during a 23 November videoconference meeting today, emphasizing the importance of maintaining that momentum.
Anticipating intensified terrorist activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Security Council counter-terrorism subcommittees are striving to maintain continuity in their work despite severe restrictions, the Chairs of those Council subsidiary bodies said today in their periodic briefing to Council members.
After many years of oppression, division, chaos, misery and conflict, Libyans are coming together to chart the way forward to preserve the country’s unity and reassert its sovereignty, the head of the United Nations special political mission there told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting on 19 November, painting a cautious but optimistic future for the war-torn State.
Increasing demolitions of Palestinian property — and the announcement of 1,200 new construction projects in East Jerusalem — are now the backdrop for a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the senior United Nations official for Middle East peace told a Security Council videoconference meeting today, while calling upon the parties concerned to cooperate urgently on health and economic matters.
The United Nations will assess, in early 2021, the support provided by its peacekeeping mission in Mali to the joint counter-terrorism force for Africa’s Sahel region, the head of the Organization’s peace operations told the Security Council during a 16 November videoconference meeting.
Yemen is again teetering on the brink of famine, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council during a 11 November videoconference meeting, reiterating their calls for donors to scale up relief funding and for the warring parties to sign the Joint Declaration for a nationwide ceasefire, economic and humanitarian measures and the resumption of peace talks.
Against the welcome backdrop of a newly signed ceasefire and fresh political talks in Libya, States must recommit to bringing justice to the victims of the country’s worst atrocity crimes, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting today, describing the failure to arrest and surrender fugitives as a “major stumbling block” impeding her work.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the sixth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Sudan (document S/2020/614), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
The Security Council decided to extend for one year its authorization to States working as part of the multinational stabilization force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and heard a briefing by the high representative in that country, with voting results announced virtually in accordance with the temporary silence procedure adopted for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reporting that Syria missed an October deadline to respond to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the country’s reported use and stockpiling of such weapons, the senior United Nations disarmament official urged today that the Security Council end its divisions on the critical matter and act to resolve it.
