7405th Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan

Citing Worsening Security Situation in Darfur, Peacekeeping Chief Urges Security Council to Further Press Sudan’s Warring Parties towards Direct Peace Talks
7405th Meeting (AM)

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 00:35:07
• Production Date: 17 March 2015
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION-UNITED NATIONS HYBRID OPERATION IN DARFUR - UNAMID
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
• Geographic Subject: DARFUR; SOUTH SUDAN; SUDAN
• MAMS Id: 1316749
• Parent Id: 1316281

Description

Over the last year, the situation in Darfur had “deteriorated significantly”, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today, urging the 15-member body and the African Union to step up pressure on parties to start direct negotiations towards ceasing hostilities — the first step on a path to lasting peace in the restive Sudanese region.

In his quarterly briefing, Hervé Ladsous presented two reports: the Secretary-General’s report on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), which covers work from 26 November 2014 to 12 February (document S/2015/141*), as well as a special report (document S/2015/163) on the Operation’s three new strategic priorities, endorsed by the Council through resolution 2148 (2014) and whose implementation, Mr. Ladsous said, was the primary goal.

Those priorities included: support for mediation between the Government and rebels who had not signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur; protection of civilians and work to establish security conditions necessary for unhindered humanitarian access; and — in consultation with the United Nations country teams — mediation of community conflicts. A proposal on tasks to be transferred to United Nations country teams would be presented in the Secretary-General’s next report, at the end of May, he said. A report containing a proposed exit strategy would also be presented at that time.

After the briefing, Hassan Hamid Hassan (Sudan) said the Council was examining two documents covering different reporting periods, which did not permit an accurate portrayal of developments in his country. The first trimester had seen an upsurge in armed attacks, which his Government had sought to counter by the deployment of armed forces, as any other country would have in such a situation.

The meeting began at 10:07 a.m. and ended at 10:45 a.m.