The Security Council today, determining that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their delivery means remained a threat to international peace and security, agreed to extend for 13 months the mandate of the Panel of Experts that assists the Sanctions Committee on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Libya could not allow the political crisis and armed conflict that had gripped the country for much of the past year to fester, the United Nations’ senior official there told the Security Council today, stressing that unless leaders acted “quickly and decisively”, the risks to national unity and territorial integrity were imminent.
In March, the French presidency of the Security Council would focus on a broad range of issues, from peace and security on the African continent to efforts to bring about a political solution to the crisis in Syria, the Permanent Representative of the country said this afternoon.
The Security Council today created a system to impose sanctions on those blocking peace in South Sudan, with some members cautioning that such moves could derail Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) negotiations aimed at securing a deal by 5 March, and others expressing hope they would pressure rival leaders into ending the bloodshed that had plunged the United Nations’ newest country into civil war for more than a year.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Liu Jieyi (China):
There had been a significant reduction of hostilities in Ukraine, another release of detainees, and the beginning of the withdrawal of heavy equipment from the line of separation in accordance with the Minsk accords, senior officials of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) told the Security Council today, cautioning, however, that those developments were only the beginning of a process.
China’s presidency of the Security Council during the “very busy” month of February was guided by the principles of objectivity, impartiality, efficiency and transparency, the country’s Permanent Representative said at a Headquarters briefing this afternoon.
The Security Council today heard strong and sustained pleas to demonstrate leadership to end the barbaric and brutal warfare in Syria, as two senior United Nations officials briefed the 15-member body on the wider consequences of a conflict that entered its fifth year.
The Security Council this afternoon extended until 15 July 2015 the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for the disputed Abyei area bordering Sudan and South Sudan.
On 26 February 2015, the entry specified below was deleted from the 1572 Sanctions List and from the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List. The entry was deleted after the Committee concluded its consideration of the de-listing request for this name submitted through the Permanent Mission of Côte d’Ivoire to the United Nations. The assets freeze and travel ban set out in paragraphs 9 to 12 of Security Council resolution 1572 (2004) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations accordingly no longer apply to this entry.
