Security Council

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay):

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay):

While security remained a paramount concern in Somalia, politics was increasingly displacing violence as a means of resolving differences, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today, pressing it to provide a “powerful” basis for the United Nations and its African Union partners to contribute decisively to the country’s future.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months, until 31 July, and decided to increase its force levels to 888, while welcoming progress in negotiations between the island nation’s Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on a comprehensive and durable settlement.

The Security Council today extended the arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban imposed on the Central African Republic until 31 January 2017, as well as the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the relevant Sanctions Committee through 28 February 2017.

Despite repeated calls to the Security Council and the parties to the conflict in Syria, the humanitarian community remained without access to the majority of the estimated 4.6 million people living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas, the senior United Nations humanitarian official said today during a briefing to the 15-member body.

With a relentless wave of extremist terror gripping the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians had an opportunity to restore hope to a region torn apart by intolerance and cruelty, Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon told the Security Council today, urging it to “act now” to prevent the two-State solution from slipping away forever.

The Security Council today decided to establish a political mission of unarmed international observers to monitor and verify for one year the laying down of arms by the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), should they agree to end a civil war that has raged for half a century, the longest in Latin America.

With the resumption of hostilities in Darfur marking the end of a period of relative calm, it was critical that the Government of Sudan extend its full support to the implementation of strategic United Nations priorities, peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous stressed today during a morning briefing to the Security Council.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay):