Security Council

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq remained an important factor in helping that country to “stay the course” and complete its transition to an inclusive, stable and prosperous democracy in the face of a national political stalemate and regional turmoil that had left it vulnerable to extremist violence, the Mission chief Martin Kobler told the Security Council today.

Reiterating its demand for an end to any and all outside support to the insurgency ravaging the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Security Council today renewed until 1 February 2014 the arms embargo and related sanctions on that country, and requested the Secretary-General to extend the mandate of the Group of Experts monitoring those measures.

Failure to resolve security, economic and political problems in South Sudan continued to have a direct impact on the country’s fragile stability and security, the United Nations’ top peacekeeping official told the Security Council this morning during a briefing on recent events.

Strong Security Council support for a new phase of genuine dialogue in Kosovo was needed in order to ensure that both sides could firmly seize the opportunity to build a stable future, the top United Nations official there said today as he delivered a briefing on recent events.

On 26 November 2012, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) approved the deletion (delisting) of the entries specified below from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List. The assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1989 (2011) therefore no longer applies to the following entries:

Following the Gaza escalation, which last week brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the “brink of a crisis that could have engulfed the region”, it was more vital than ever not only to bring a sustainable end to violence, but to achieve a fair and lasting peace, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative told the Security Council this morning.

In the fifth annual debate on the working methods of the Security Council today, speakers acknowledged progress towards more transparency and efficiency in the operations of the 15-member body, while calling for more meaningful engagement between it and the wider United Nations membership.

On 25 November 2012, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) approved the deletion (delisting) of the entries specified below from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List. The assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1989 (2011) therefore no longer apply to the following entries:

On 21 November 2012, the Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee decided to remove the name of the individual below from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List after concluding its consideration of a delisting request submitted through the Ombudsperson established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1904 (2009), and after considering the Comprehensive Report of the Ombudsperson on this delisting request.

A rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian crisis plaguing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must be brought to a swift end with intensified help from the international community, the United Nations’ top official in that country told the Security Council today.