Sudan

The Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index for February found that rising world prices for staple grains and dairy products more than offset lower prices for vegetable oils, leading global food commodity prices up 1.1 per cent.  FAO also lowered projections for global wheat harvests this year.

The Security Council, acting unanimously under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, today adopted a resolution extending for 13 months the mandate of the Panel of Experts appointed to monitor the arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze imposed on those impeding peace in Sudan’s Darfur region.

On 2 February 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan met with the Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The Security Council today welcomed improvements in the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur, but remained concerned about outstanding challenges, as it expressed its support for a review that would consider a new mission concept for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed today to donors after they were forced to reduce food rations and cash assistance for more than 100,000 refugees in Rwanda.

Meeting today to discuss the updated situation in Darfur, Security Council members focused on the first of two phases for the reconfiguration of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), while noting developments with regard to the political process and the humanitarian situation on the ground.

On 28 December 2017, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan held informal consultations to consider the final report of the Panel of Experts, submitted in accordance with paragraph 2 of resolution 2340 (2017).

With the second stage of the drawdown of the African Union‑United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) set to begin in February 2018, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the revised budget proposal for that Operation, stressing the importance of prioritizing post‑conflict reconstruction.

The International Criminal Court’s entire judicial machinery could be frustrated unless the suspects it had indicted appeared before it, the institution’s Chief Prosecutor cautioned the Security Council today, as members discussed different approaches concerning the arrest warrants issued by the Court in the case of Darfur, western Sudan.

With the Darfur peace process stagnant, an expert report said that armed groups from that region of Sudan were engaged in illicit cross-border activity while the Government continued to reposition unapproved military aircraft, the head of the sanctions committee on Sudan told the Security Council today.