Northern and Southern Sudan today signed an agreement to pull their troops out of the disputed central Abyei region, scene of fierce fighting over the past few weeks, African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki announced as he urged the Security Council to move quickly to ensure implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the two sides.

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

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Muhammad Rafiuddin Shah, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, to the International Conference on the Global Fight against Terrorism, in Tehran on 25-26 June:

BRUSSELS, 28 June — The viability of the two-State solution, the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative and the effectiveness of the Quartet’s Road Map in bringing about a just and lasting settlement of the Middle East conflict — along with Europe’s role in reaching that goal — were examined this afternoon as the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process held its first plenary session in Brussels.

Painting a picture of a country at a crossroads, the top United Nations official in Guinea-Bissau told the Security Council today that, while all basic conditions for genuinely advancing national dialogue and reforming the security sector were in place, durable progress was being hampered by the authorities’ uncertain commitment to addressing impunity, drug trafficking and organized crime, despite their potentially devastating impact on stability.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Noël Nelson Messone (Gabon):

BRUSSELS, 28 June — Given the frozen state of Middle East peace negotiations at the present critical time, the international community must do its part to bring the parties back to the table, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, which opened this morning in Brussels.

On 24 June 2011, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011) concerning the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya approved the addition of the entries specified below to its List of Individuals and Entities subject to the travel ban and/or assets freeze.

With gaps in the world’s multilateral frameworks hindering the international community’s ability to comprehensively and equitably meet the most critical global challenges, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for improving the multilateral system’s coherence and efficiency today as the General Assembly convened a day-long informal thematic debate on the United Nations in global governance.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, in Brussels on 28 June: