Welcoming recent political rapprochement between Sudan and South Sudan but calling on those countries to make more progress on border issues, the Security Council today renewed the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) until 15 May 2021.
The Security Council, meeting independently from but concurrently with the General Assembly in an initial round of voting today, was not yet able to fill five open seats on the International Court of Justice.
The Governments of Sudan and South Sudan should leverage their burgeoning bilateral rapprochement to make progress on the sensitive issue of the Abyei border region, Security Council members urged today, as senior officials outlined the latest progress and challenges on the ground.
Despite ongoing tensions, attacks by armed groups and the challenges now posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, plans to hold the Central African Republic’s critical presidential, legislative and local elections on 27 December are continuing apace, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today.
The Security Council today decided to extend for another 12 months the mandate of its one-year-old integrated office in Haiti, adopting a technical rollover that made no changes to its original mandate.
Welcoming today’s large‑scale prisoner release in Yemen as “an airlift of hope” for ending the suffering caused by the long conflict in the country, speakers in the Security Council today called on the Government and Houthi rebels to build on that hope to stop the fighting and negotiate a lasting solution to the conflict.
The Security Council today welcomed the elaboration of transitional political arrangements in Mali and underlined the need to fully adhere to their terms, issuing a presidential statement in the wake of developments unfolding rapidly in the West African nation.
Amid concern about unceasing hurdles to the exercise of political freedoms and human rights in the Great Lakes region, the United Nations is launching a new strategy focused on preventive diplomacy, security cooperation and development, the Secretary‑General’s senior political official for the strife‑torn area told the Security Council today, noting that the plan would guide the Organization’s action for the next 10 years.
Expressing concern over Turkey’s recently announced plan to open the coastline of Varosha, a city on the eastern edge of Cyprus, the Security Council called today for a reversal of that decision and for the parties to avoid any unilateral action that could raise tensions on the island.
In the tumultuous weeks following Mali’s most recent coup d’état, robust regional leadership and a new transition plan have emerged as promising signs that the country can emerge from its “hellish cycle” of mistrust, violence and repeated Government overthrows, a senior United Nations told the Security Council today.
