UN Security Council Archives

Breaking News: Security Council approves motion demanding end to Israeli settlements

December 23, 2016 By administrator

The resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements was passed with a U.S. abstention. (Osamu Honda/Associated Press)

Delayed resolution passes with rare U.S. abstention that may be seen as parting shot by Obama at Netanyahu.

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements, defying pressure from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump as well as Israel and several U.S. senators who urged Washington to use its veto.

The United States abstained Friday from voting on the resolution, which passed with 14 of 15 Security Council members in favour. This is a relatively rare step by Washington, which usually shields Israel from such action.

The resolution had been abruptly withdrawn by Egypt on Thursday but later presented by four other members.

A U.S. abstention will likely be seen as parting shot by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has had an acrimonious relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and who has made settlements a major target of peace efforts that ultimately have proved to be futile.

Still, the resolution is unlikely to result in any major change in one of the thorniest Middle East conflicts. Netanyahu and Trump, who had both called for a veto, are expected to have a more amicable relationship.

A senior Israeli official Thursday that if adopted, there would be “zero chance” the Israeli government would abide by the measure. Under the UN charter, member states “agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council.”

The resolution asks the UN secretary general to report to the council every three months on the implementation of the resolution, and says the council will “examine practical ways and means to secure the full implementation.”

New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal, who were co-sponsors of the draft resolution, requested Friday’s vote.

Pressure from Trump

The 15-member council had been due to vote on Thursday, but Egypt withdrew the draft resolution, under pressure from Israel and Trump, who spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the Republican president-elect had spoken with both Netanyahu and al-Sisi about the proposed Security Council action.

“He put out a statement about the Egyptian motion that was going to happen at the UN. It was revoked,” Spicer said Friday on NBC’s Today program. “President al-Sisi called, Prime Minister Netanyahu called. He [Trump]is getting results, whether it’s domestically or abroad.”

On Friday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, called on Washington to “stand by” Israel. In one of the harshest personal attacks by Netanyahu’s government, a senior Israeli official said Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry pushed a “shameful” anti-settlement resolution at the Security Council.

A senior U.S. official said the Obama administration has not been involved in crafting or promoting the resolution.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who heads the Senate subcommittee that oversees U.S. funding for the UN, threatened earlier on Friday to pull financial support for the international body if it moves forward with a vote and for any nation that backs the measure.

United Nations Security Council to meet today on Syria

October 7, 2016 By administrator

un-securty-council The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday on Syria after a UN envoy warned that eastern Aleppo may be totally destroyed in the next few months. According to the report by Agence France Presse, Russia requested the meeting to hear from UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, who will brief the council via video conference from Geneva at 1400 GMT.

The source reminds that the Security Council members were discussing a French-drafted UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Aleppo. After holding talks in Moscow on the proposal, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will head to Washington on Friday to discuss the measure, which calls for ending all flights over Aleppo.

Iraq requests U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on Turkish troops in north

October 6, 2016 By administrator

(Reuters Report) Iraq has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the presence of Turkish troops on its territory as a dispute with Ankara escalates.

Turkey’s parliament voted last week to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat “terrorist organizations” – a likely reference to Kurdish rebels as well as Islamic State.

Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. On Wednesday, Ankara and Baghdad each summoned the other’s ambassador in protest at remarks from the other camp.

“The Iraqi foreign ministry has presented a request for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the Turkish violation of Iraq’s territory and interference in its internal affairs,” said a statement on the ministry’s website.

Turkey says its military is in Iraq at the invitation of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government, with which Ankara maintains solid ties. Baghdad says no such invitation was ever issued.

Most of the Turkish troops are at a base in Bashiqa, north of Mosul and close to Turkey’s border, where they are helping to train Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga and Sunni fighters.

Tensions between Baghdad and Ankara have risen with expectations of an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces to retake Mosul, the last major Iraqi city under Islamic State control, captured by the militants two years ago.

Turkey has said the campaign will send a wave of refugees over its border, and potentially on to Europe.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-turkey-idUSKCN1260Z2

Iraq calls for UN Security Council resolution condemning Turkish invasion

December 19, 2015 By administrator

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari told the UN Security Council that Turkey had invaded Iraqi territory without permission, and asked for a Council resolution condemning the invasion and ordering the withdrawal of Turkish troops, Sputniknews.com reports.
Earlier this month, Turkey deployed about 150 troops and 25 tanks to a base in the Iraqi Nineveh province, without Baghdad’s approval. Baghdad regards the deployment as illegal.

“Iraq is requesting the Security Council to assume its international legal responsibilities under the UN Charter, and to adopt a clear and explicit resolution includes the following, first, condemnation of the Turkish occupation and illegal incursion against the will of a founding member state of the UN, in breaching the rules and provisions of the UN Charter and the norms of international law. Second, demanding Turkey to withdraw its troops immediately,” Jaafari told the UN Security Council of Friday.
Last week, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it had officially filed a complaint with the UN Security Council, calling on the United Nations to ensure an immediate withdrawal of the Turkish forces from its country’s territory.

Jaafari told the Council on Friday that Iraq retains its right of self-defense and is ready to take all necessary measures to end Turkey’s “hostile act” if it is carried out again.

The Turkish authorities reported after the Nineveh incident that their troops had entered Iraq to ensure the security of the Turkish soldiers deployed earlier at the base to train local militias, fighting against terrorist groups.

Breaking News U.N. Security Council Approves Resolution on Syria Talks

December 18, 2015 By administrator

An injured man at a field hospital in Douma, Syria, this month, following what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters

By SOMINI SENGUPTA and DAVID E. SANGERDEC. 18, 2015

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved on Friday a resolution calling for a cease-fire and political talks to help end the civil war in Syria.

The measure, adopted 15-0, is the first time that Russia and the United States, who have been at loggerheads over the future of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, agreed on a road map for a political process.

The resolution makes no mention of whether or not Mr. Assad would be able to run for office in new elections, which it says must be held in the next 18 months.

There are still gaps to be reconciled between the American and Russian positions, but the agreement has enabled the Security Council to give its imprimatur to a possible political solution for the first time since the civil war started nearly five years ago.

One possible obstacle to implementing a deal will be determining which of the disparate rebel groups would participate in the talks scheduled to begin next month, and whether they would agree to come to the table at all without a guarantee of Mr. Assad’s exit.

The resolution also leaves open the question whether other rebel groups can be designated as terrorist organizations and would fall outside the cease-fire agreement. The resolution embraces an effort led by Jordan to develop “a common understanding” for determining which groups are terrorist and which can participate in political talks with the Syrian government, allowing the fight against the Islamic State militants and the Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front to continue.

The resolution endorses a process begun by Secretary of State John Kerry to bring together the Russians, Iranians, Saudis and other major regional players with European governments to develop a diplomatic road map for resolving the Syrian conflict.

Diplomats from more than a dozen countries met at the Palace Hotel in New York on Friday to discuss a possible resolution.

At issue was whether the countries that all have stakes in the outcome of the war can end the fighting, and by doing so, help stem the refugee crisis in Europe and the threat posed by the Islamic State.

The last two rounds of talks, held in Vienna in October and November, produced a diplomatic road map for Syria: a cease-fire by January; talks between the Syrian government and opposition parties, mediated by the United Nations; and elections in 18 months.

The draft of the resolution agreed Friday by the so-called International Syria Support Group appears to include these three steps. The group is led by the envoys of the United States and Russia, and includes the regional rivals Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — which have vastly different agendas in Syria. The Arab League and the European Union also participated.

American officials said that before the full group began its discussions on Friday, Mr. Kerry had conferred with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, and that they had then met with envoys of the other three permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China and France.

John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington on Thursday that the agreement struck at the last meeting of the support group left Mr. Assad’s future unresolved. It called for “a unified, pluralistic, nonsectarian, whole Syria,” he said.

One of the trickiest parts of the road map for diplomacy was expected to be composing the list of groups in Syria that are considered terrorist organizations and would be excluded from the peace process.

The agreement on Friday comes after a rare show of unity among the world powers Thursday afternoon, when the Security Council unanimously adopted a legally binding resolution intended to prevent the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups from raising money.

One of the most incongruous parts of the resolution was that the government of Syria was one of its co-sponsors.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/world/middleeast/syria-talks-isis.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0