The conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen is taking a dramatic turn for the worse, with Houthi rebels pursuing a military offensive in Marib governorate alongside a surge in cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia, but a renewed diplomatic commitment by the United States to end the six-year conflict offers a glimmer of hope that peace is still possible, senior United Nations officials told a videoconference meeting of the Security Council today.
On the tenth anniversary of the start of conflict in Syria, the senior United Nations official for that country expressed his profound regret that the world body has not yet been able to broker an end to the crisis, while calling for new, creative international diplomacy, during a Security Council videoconference meeting today.
Extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) until 15 March 2022, the Security Council demanded today that all parties to the conflict in that country and other armed actors immediately stop fighting and engage in political dialogue, in accordance with the peace agreement signed in 2018.
The Security Council today welcomed the vote of confidence by Libya’s House of Representatives to endorse the Cabinet of a new unified interim Government charged with leading the country up to elections.
The Security Council announced today its adoption of a resolution reauthorizing the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) until 31 December and maintaining its overall 19,626 uniformed personnel level ahead of the phased handover of responsibilities to Somali security forces, planned for later in 2021.
The Security Council decided today to increase the authorized size of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to enhance its ability to perform its priority mandated tasks “in the current evolving context”.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Linda Thomas-Greenfield (United States):
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council debate on conflict and food security, held today:
The world is facing multiple conflict-driven famines, aggravated by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, and without immediate action, millions of people — from the Sahel to Afghanistan — could well find themselves on the brink of extreme hunger and death this year, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned the Security Council today.
While the crisis in Ukraine remains Europe’s most serious security challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic — which was declared as such a year ago this month — has occasioned worrying setbacks for democracy and human rights in the region which cannot go ignored, the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said today, during a videoconference meeting of the Security Council.
