Expressing grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, the Security Council today adopted a presidential statement calling on all parties to engage constructively and in good faith to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in that country.
Although some progress had been made in the ongoing investigations of chemical weapon use in Syria, Security Council members must avoid politicizing the issue, the United Nations disarmament chief urged the 15-nation body as she briefed them on the matter today.
The United Nations must move away from ad hoc arrangements towards a more institutionalized approach for the joint planning, mandating, financing and supporting of African Union peace-support operations, speakers told the Security Council today as it took up proposals in that regard.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sacha Sergio Llorentty Solíz (Bolivia):
With the level of armed hostilities significantly lower than in previous years, the focus of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) should be readjusted as the mission reduced the number of peacekeepers deployed in that region of western Sudan, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today.
The Security Council decided today to extend the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) until March 2018, as previously set out in resolution 2158 (2014).
The threat posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to stability in Central Africa’s should not be underestimated, particularly now with Ugandan and South Sudanese troops, as well as United States special forces having disengaged from the African Union Regional Task Force, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the subregion warned in the Security Council this afternoon.
Mine action must extend beyond only removing those remnants of war to become a part of an effective toolkit for helping communities and countries recover and pursue sustainable peace, speakers told the Security Council today during a briefing on a comprehensive approach to mine action and explosive hazard threat mitigation.
Violence in the Central African Republic — including attacks on minority groups and peacekeepers — harkened back to the darkest days of that country’s past, but the United Nations peacekeeping mission there must nevertheless stay the course so as to consolidate progress towards peace, its chief told the Security Council today.
The Security Council reauthorized Member States today — acting nationally or through regional organizations — to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast believed to be in violation of the arms embargo imposed on that country.
