One year after elections were held, and three years after Iraqis took to the streets to protest a lack of political, economic and social prospects, the continuing absence of a functioning government is hard to justify, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, while stressing the need for Iraq’s leaders — “all of them” — to engage in dialogue and “pull the country back from the ledge”.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Michel Xavier Biang (Gabon):
The Security Council’s programme for October features four major debates, three of which will focus squarely on Africa, including one during the first week, on fighting the financing of armed groups and terrorists engaged in the illicit trafficking of natural resources, its President for the month told a Headquarters press conference today.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):
The international community must take steps to address the consequences of the recent leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, while its causes are being investigated, Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told the Security Council today, in a meeting requested by the Russian Federation to discuss the incidents.
Despite progress in preparations for its general elections, as well as in its financial governance, the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to face a deteriorating security situation amid ongoing violence by armed groups against civilians, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today ahead of ongoing plans for the mission’s withdrawal.
Meeting today following Russian Federation President Vladimir V. Putin’s proclamation of Moscow’s annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the Security Council rejected a draft resolution intended to condemn the referenda that preceded it.
The Security Council renewed for another year its authorization for Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast that they have reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling and human trafficking from that country, and to seize those vessels that are confirmed as being used for those purposes.
Syria must change its attitude and cooperate fully with the body charged with verifying its compliance with international law governing chemical weapons, the United Nations disarmament chief told the Security Council today, as speakers diverged over the propriety of that body’s efforts so far.
Welcoming statements by the leaders of Israel and the State of Palestine during the seventy-seventh General Assembly session as a positive sign toward resuming the peace process, speakers in the Security Council today called for those words to be turned into action and progress be delivered on a two-State solution, especially in light continuing settlement activity and violence against civilians.
