Security Council

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process underlined today the urgent need for preventive diplomacy to ensure a fair and lasting peace as “new dangerous flashpoints emerge” in the region.

Whereas long-standing restrictions on the importation of weapons have largely prevented their flow into the hands of Al-Shabaab — a group responsible for ongoing terror attacks across the Horn of Africa — those measures require updating to better reflect reality on the ground, the head of the Security Council’s Somalia Sanctions Committee said today.

The ranking United Nations official in the Central African Republic appealed to the Security Council today to renew the mandate of the Organization’s peacekeeping mission in that country with a focus on elections planned for 2020 and 2021, as well as other challenges.

The recent escalation of hostilities in north‑east Syria — following a Turkish military operation launched on 9 October — has exacerbated the safety and well‑being of the area’s 3 million residents, a top United Nations humanitarian official warned the Security Council today, adding that nearly 180,000 people have fled that border region in just two weeks.

Given the increased cooperation between Sudan and South Sudan on a host of issues, it is time for the parties to finally make progress on the status of the disputed area of Abyei, the Under‑Secretary‑General for Peace Operations told the Security Council today.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jerry Matthews Matjila (South Africa):

The head of United Nations Peace Operations called upon the Security Council today to help the Government of Sudan and armed movements in Darfur to seize the opportunities for building comprehensive peace arising from recent political change in the country.

With signs of hope appearing on the horizon in Yemen, warring parties must cease hostilities, facilitate food and fuel distribution and relaunch talks aimed at ending the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis, United Nations officials said today as they briefed the Security Council on recent developments.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Jerry Matthews Matjila (South Africa):

The United Nations long‑standing peacekeeping presence in Haiti closed its doors today amid mounting political and security challenges, which risk eroding strides facilitated by a generation of blue helmets, said the Organization’s senior peace operations official in a briefing to the Security Council.