Security Council

Robert Serry, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council this morning that the upcoming meeting of the Middle East Diplomatic Quartet on 24 September presented an “important opportunity to lay the basis for progress” towards a durable peace.

The Security Council decided this morning to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) for one year, until 30 September 2010.

Noting with concern the threats to subregional stability, in particular posed by drug trafficking, organized crime and illicit arms, and reiterating the continuing need for support by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) for the security of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Security Council today extended the Mission’s mandate until 30 September 2010.

The success of Sierra Leone’s road towards stable democracy would depend largely on the extent to which its Government would be able to provide a “peace and democracy dividend” for all Sierra Leoneans, which would depend in turn on its ability to rally international support for its “Agenda for Change”, the head of the United Nations presence in that country told the Security Council today.

Through strong international support and the efforts of its Government, Haiti now had an historic chance to consolidate its political stability and escape from extreme poverty, United Nations Special Envoy William J. Clinton told the Security Council this afternoon.

A United Nations workshop on implementing United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) will be held from 8 to 10 September 2009 in San José, Costa Rica.

On 1 September 2009, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the amendments specified with strike-through and underline in the four entries below to its Consolidated List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1822 (2008) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

For the first time in history, a President of the United States would chair a meeting of the Security Council, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for one year, until 31 August 2010, strongly calling on all concerned parties to respect the cessation of hostilities and the Blue Line and to fully cooperate with the United Nations and its Mission.

On 12 August 2009, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1521 (2003) concerning Liberia decided to update the information concerning Mr. Martin George.