Security Council

The Security Council will convene two ministerial meetings in September, the first on cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations and the second on peace and security in Africa, Vassily A. Nebenzia (Russian Federation), its President for September, said today.

The Security Council decided today to renew until 31 August 2020 sanctions — including a travel ban and assets freeze — that it imposed through resolution 2374 (2017) on individuals and entities actively stymying progress in implementing the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until 31 August 2020, reiterating its call for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the principles and elements set out in resolution 1701 (2006).

Expressing concern by recent developments in south Yemen, including the violent attempt to take over State institutions, the Security Council today called on all involved parties to show restraint and preserve the country’s territorial integrity.

On 29 July 2019, Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, briefed the 2127 Sanctions Committee concerning the Central African Republic and the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.

With the delicate political process intended to resolve the crisis in Syria entering a critical phase, senior United Nations officials called today for immediate Security Council action to ensure a ceasefire is in place in that country’s north-western Idlib Governorate amid a surge in civilian casualties and ongoing attacks on key infrastructure.

The leadership of Iraq is hard at work building on progress made since the territorial defeat of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), but the recent flare-up in regional tensions could potentially undermine ongoing efforts to restore stability and prosperity, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country warned the Security Council today.

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) may have lost its territorial foothold in Syria, but it remains a global threat through a network of affiliates stretching from West Africa to South-East Asia and residual wealth estimated at up to $300 million, senior counter-terrorism officials told the Security Council today.

Scattered violence, rising death and injury tolls, and the ongoing construction of settlements in occupied territory continue against a backdrop of stalled negotiations on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today.

The establishment of a new transitional Government in Khartoum on 17 August creates an opportunity to restore long-term stability to Darfur, senior United Nations and the African Union officials told the Security Council today, as the two organizations consider the future of their joint mission in that western region of Sudan.