Security Council

The following Security Council statement was read out today by Council President Zhang Yesui (China):

Following a two-day retreat of officials from 11 regional organizations with the Secretary-General and a Security Council meeting that heard from them this morning, the Council expressed its intention to promote closer and more operational cooperation between the United Nations and such organizations in the fields of conflict early warning, prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding and to ensure the coherence, synergy and collective effectiveness of their efforts.

The following Security Council press statement was read out by Council President Zhang Yesui (China) today, 13 January:

The Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee has today made available on its website new Standard Forms for Listing of individuals and entities, respectively, to be used when proposing the inclusion of names on the Committee’s Consolidated List.

In accordance with the principle of monthly alphabetical rotation, the following are the Presidents of the United Nations Security Council and the Chairmen of the Military Staff Committee for 2010:

While West Africa continued to make progress in critical areas, weak governance, lagging development, climate change, the changing nature of drug trafficking and other challenges continued to threaten peace and stability in the volatile subregion, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today.

While conflicts in Africa and the Middle East once again dominated the Security Council’s agenda in 2009, the United Nations body charged with maintaining international peace and security also advanced its work on increasingly critical thematic issues such as nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council today that Afghanistan had reached a “critical juncture” after a challenging year of difficult elections, a deteriorating security situation and doubts about the strategies of the Government and the international community.

It was particularly important this month for the Security Council to strengthen coordination with regional organizations, as it considered the next steps in situations such as Somalia, Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China, whose country holds the body’s presidency for January, told correspondents at Headquarters today.

Gravely concerned about findings that Eritrea had provided support to armed groups undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and that it had not withdrawn its forces following clashes with Djibouti in June 2008, the Security Council today imposed an arms embargo on that country, in addition to travel restrictions on and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders.