The following Security Council press statement regarding the mediation efforts by Qatar to resolve the border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea was read out today by Council President Claude Heller (Mexico):

Killey Mwitasi of the United Republic of Tanzania has been awarded the twenty-third Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea.

An integrated approach to stability in Sudan, linking peace in Darfur to preparations for the January referendum on the future of Southern Sudan, was presented to the Security Council by officials of the United Nations and the African Union this morning.

Following is UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s message for the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, to be observed on 17 June:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Refugee Day, to be observed on 20 June:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, to be observed on 26 June:

“The global scourge from the illicit trade in small arms and ammunition continues to wreak havoc” and was highly destabilizing, impacting upon security and development in literally all regions of the world, Sergio Duarte, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said today at the opening of the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States on combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The twentieth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea opened today with a call for universal accession to that treaty, the election of several members of its Bureau and the adoption of the session’s provisional agenda.

Echoing the Secretary-General’s view that a solution to the situation in Cyprus was “well within reach”, the Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force there, known as UNFICYP, for a further six months, until 15 December 2010.