Security Council

The Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee has today made available on its website new Standard Forms for Listing of individuals and entities, respectively, to be used when proposing the inclusion of names on the Committee’s Consolidated List.

While West Africa continued to make progress in critical areas, weak governance, lagging development, climate change, the changing nature of drug trafficking and other challenges continued to threaten peace and stability in the volatile subregion, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.

While conflicts in Africa and the Middle East once again dominated the Security Council’s agenda in 2009, the United Nations body charged with maintaining international peace and security also advanced its work on increasingly critical thematic issues such as nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today that Afghanistan had reached a “critical juncture” after a challenging year of difficult elections, a deteriorating security situation and doubts about the strategies of the Government and the international community.

It was particularly important this month for the Security Council to strengthen coordination with regional organizations, as it considered the next steps in situations such as Somalia, Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China, whose country holds the body’s presidency for January, told correspondents at Headquarters today.

Gravely concerned about findings that Eritrea had provided support to armed groups undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and that it had not withdrawn its forces following clashes with Djibouti in June 2008, the Security Council today imposed an arms embargo on that country, in addition to travel restrictions on and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders.

The Security Council decided today to extend until 31 May 2010 the deployment of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), expressing the intention to extend it further following consideration of ways to enhance MONUC’S ability to protect civilians.

The following Security Council press statement on Sudan was read out today by Council President Michel Kafando ( Burkina Faso):

Welcoming the report of the African Union High-level Panel on Darfur, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for the continuation of efforts to encourage the Government of the Sudan and rebel movements to make concessions and embrace the consensus being built by United Nations-African Union Chief Mediator Djibril Bassolé.

Welcoming the 1 January establishment of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA), the Security Council this morning requested the Secretary-General to propose in his next report clear benchmarks to guide its work, while it demanded that the country’s Government and other stakeholders hold credible, timely elections in 2010.