Security Council

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

On 22 June 2011, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) approved the deletion (de-listing) of the eight entries specified below from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List.

Worried about the dangerous standstill in the Israeli-Palestinian political process, the top United Nations political official today encouraged the leaders of both sides to “respond positively” to last month’s speech by United States President Barack Obama in order to move the peace talks forward.

There had been three new alleged violations of the international sanctions imposed on Iran in relation to its nuclear programme, the Chair of the Committee created to monitor the implementation of those measures reported today, as several concerned Security Council members urged Tehran to scale back the activities in dispute and seek a diplomatic solution.

The following Security Council press statement on the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur was issued today by Council President Noël Nelson Messone (Gabon):

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

Citing the “incalculable” human and commercial costs of piracy off the Somali coast, as well as the escalating violence and expanding geographic scope of pirate attacks, the top United Nations legal official today presented the Security Council with detailed options for establishing specialized courts to try suspects in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa region.

The head of the year-old United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) briefed the Security Council today on efforts under way to broaden the strategic partnership between the two organizations on a range of shared issues, including on peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding, and on raising the world body’s profile as a vital partner for capacity-building with African regional entities.

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.

Recognizing that some members of the Taliban in Afghanistan had rejected the terrorist ideology of Al-Qaida and joined in the Government reconciliation process, the Security Council this afternoon decided to separate the sanctions regime on the two groups, as it created an additional mechanism to manage the new regime and extended existing ones for an additional 18 months.