In a statement, the Secretary-General says that the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize honours three women of uncommon courage, strength and commitment — Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and social activists Tawakkul Karman of Yemen and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The new Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in Abyei. He noted that the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) has not observed significant progress on the withdrawal of Armed Forces from the area.
Helen Clark, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, laid a wreath yesterday at the site of the August attack on the UN House in Abuja. Speaking to reporters after meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, she vowed that the attack would not stop the critical UN development work there.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, has strongly condemned a suicide bomb attack at a Transitional Federal Government complex in south Mogadishu, which killed scores of people and wounded many more. He said the “senseless and cowardly” attack was “unacceptable”.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said today that an increasingly complex international environment is making it harder to help the world’s more than 43 million refugees, internally displaced and stateless people.
This morning the Security Council authorized the deployment mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to be extended until 31 October 2012. It requested the African Union to urgently increase its force strength to its mandated level of 12,000 uniformed personnel.
Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, briefed the Security Council this morning about the latest developments. He said that today’s meeting comes at a sad moment, following the killing of former President Berhanuddin Rabbani, but, he believed the resolve of the Afghan people for peace will not be deterred.
In a formal meeting this morning, the Security Council agreed to send the application received last Friday from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Standing Committee on new admissions. The Standing Committee will hold its first meeting on the matter this Friday.
B. Lynn Pascoe, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Security Council on the Middle East this morning, telling Council members that the parties remain far apart. He added that the main obstacles to a Palestinian State are the continuing Israeli occupation and the Palestinian divide.
The Security Council heard a briefing today on Libya from the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, who said that the UN Support Mission in Libya is establishing a presence in Tripoli, which, he said, displays remarkable normality. A key task will be investigating human rights violations.