With 2015 drawing to a close, Syria continued to sink “deeper and deeper into violence and brutality”, top United Nations officials told the Security Council today, urging parties to the conflict to allow humanitarian aid to enter and the international community to fund a $3.2 billion appeal for 2016.
Over the weekend, Special Envoy for Syria Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed briefed the press in Geneva on the Yemen peace talks, noting that despite numerous violations of the ceasefire the parties made serious progress and agreed to a negotiating framework for a comprehensive settlement. The talks will resume on 14 January 2016.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:
The new Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations, Yemdaogo Eric Tiare, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.
The new Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations, Elbio Oscar Rosselli Frieri, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.
NEW YORK, 21 December 2015 (Joint Investigative Mechanism) — The three-member leadership panel of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, led by its Head, Virginia Gamba, was in Damascus on 17 December for meetings with the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Samantha Power (United States):
Stressing the need for a bilateral diplomatic solution, the top United Nations official for political affairs today called on Iraq and Turkey to exercise restraint and defuse tensions arising from the increased presence of Turkish forces in Iraq as part of the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) terrorist group.
The Security Council today endorsed a road map for a peace process in Syria, setting out an early-January timetable for United Nations-facilitated talks between the Government and opposition members, as well as the outlines of a nationwide ceasefire to begin as soon as the parties concerned had taken initial steps towards a political transition.
Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks on the situation in Syria to the Security Council, in New York on 18 December 2015:
