Security Council: Meetings Coverage

The Security Council today extended through January 2010 the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), noting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s assessment that the operation would be well placed to assist in the management of arms and armed personnel in line with the 25 June 2008 Agreement between political parties in the South Asian country.

The Security Council today called for more rapid and pointed efforts to build peace in the period immediately after strife-torn countries emerged from armed conflict, following a day-long open debate in which more than 40 speakers delivered statements.

Expressing deep sympathy and condolences to the victims, their families and the Government of Indonesia, the Security Council this afternoon condemned in the strongest terms the 17 July heinous terrorist attacks in Jakarta.

The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was critical to preserving the fragile peace and stability of West Africa, the President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone told the Security Council this morning. Briefing the Council on the Special Court’s activities, Judge Renate Winter said that it was now hearing Mr. Taylor’s defence, which had started this week.

Welcoming the Afghan-led preparations for upcoming presidential and provincial council elections, the Security Council stressed this morning that it was important that they be free, fair, transparent, credible, secure and inclusive.

The refusal by Myanmar’s senior leadership to allow Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not only a deep disappointment, but also a major lost opportunity for the country, he told the Security Council today. Briefing the Council on his recent visit to Myanmar, he said that allowing such a meeting would have sent a constructive, conciliatory signal inside the country and abroad.

While welcoming West Africa’s positive strides in post-conflict recovery, peacebuilding and governance today, the Security Council noted with “deep concern” the fragile nature of those achievements, and stressed the importance of adopting a comprehensive strategy to tackle a raft of emerging threats in the subregion.

Significant progress had been made in the integration of local armed groups into the Congolese military, and in their incorporation into its operations against foreign fighters, but the two processes had engendered serious humanitarian consequences for the civilian population, Alan Doss, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the Security Council this morning.

Condemning the renewed attacks against Somalia’s fledgling unity Government and war-weary civilian population by Al Shabaab and other violent opposition groups, the Security Council today demanded an immediate end to that offensive, saying it would promptly consider what action to take against Eritrea and others providing support to armed groups and foreign fighters undermining the peace and reconciliation process in the strife-torn Horn of Africa country.

While praising fragile West Africa’s steady progress towards lasting peace, senior United Nations officials warned today that a string of countries along the subregion’s Atlantic coast were fast becoming hubs for the trafficking of cocaine to Europe, and urged the Security Council to support efforts to tackle that emerging threat, as well as other challenges, including fallout from the global financial crisis and recent unconstitutional changes of government there.