Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended its arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 July 2018, expanding those sanctions to cover individuals and entities engaging in or providing support for acts that included planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) peacekeepers or United Nations personnel, including members of the Group of Experts.

The Security Council welcomed the deployment of the Group of Five Sahel joint force (Force conjointe du G5 Sahel - FC-G5S) that would address the threat of terrorism, as well as the serious challenges posed by transnational organized crime in the region.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, citing a lack of real progress towards ending hostilities and resuming dialogue in South Sudan, today recommended no changes to the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as set out in resolution 2327 (2016).

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War, achieving a negotiated two-State outcome was the only way to lay the foundations for an enduring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Security Council heard today, as it held its regular briefing on the situation in the Middle East.

Regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in Burundi, Assistant Secretary-General Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told the Security Council this afternoon as it considered the situation in that country.

The obligations of States parties to assist victims of nuclear weapons use or testing took centre stage today, with participants divided over whether to impose that primary burden on the nuclear weapons-possessor responsible, as the Conference working to codify a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons continued negotiations.

Continuing their deliberations on a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons, Member States suggested today ways in which to improve the proposed text as well as various amendments to several of its draft articles.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today sent a draft resolution to the General Assembly calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of the island to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.

Building upon the progress it had made in 2016, the Peacebuilding Commission would now seek to review its working methods to enhance efficiency and flexibility, the Security Council heard today in its regular briefing on the intergovernmental advisory body’s work.

Despite progress towards peace in Mali, terrorist attacks remained a major obstacle, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country told the Security Council today, as the State’s Foreign Minister called for the Council’s authority to deploy a regional counter-terrorism force so as to keep the nation on the road to reconciliation.