China says it will maintain focus on the African continent, as it assumes leadership of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March. Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Tuesday that Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur region are top priorities as China leads discussion on…
Ghassan Salamé, head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), announced on Monday that he’s quitting the position. “For two years, I sought to reunite the Libyans, curb the interference of the outside, and preserve the unity of the country,” he said in a public Twitter message. “My health…
Ghassan Salamé, head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), had a stern warning Monday for other nations backing the warring parties in Libya, one he delivered after a closed-door session with the United Nations Security Council. “Keep your hands off Libya,” he said, when asked for his message…
James Swan, the United Nations envoy in Somalia, said Thursday that the nation is looking ahead toward 2020 elections and the adoption of a federal constitution by June, but significant barriers to success remain. “After more than a year without effective cooperation between the Central Government and key Federal Member…
Another 10 people have died in an airstrike in Libya, with the news coming as the United Nations Security Council heard testimony Monday from Ghassan Salamé, head of the UNSMIL mission, who warned of intensifying violence and “a race against time to reach a peaceful solution.” Salamé said the attack…
The United Nations Security Council agreed on Thursday to extend sanctions imposed in Mali against those who are interfering with the progress of a 2015 peace agreement for the Sahel nation. The sanctions, now in force until the end of August 2020, were first put in place in 2017. They…
Libyan leader Fayez Al-Sarraj, head of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord, has summoned United Nations envoy Ghassan Salame in order to register disapproval about what the GNA says is “misinformation” provided to the U.N. Security Council on the situation there. At the same time, the Libyan…
Opinions were sharply divided on Burundi during discussions at the United Nations Security Council on Friday, as the nation’s security status was evaluated with an eye toward 2020 presidential elections. President Pierre Nkurunziza has said he will not run again, but his 2015 decision to force a third term and…
The nations of Niger and Tunisia were elected to two-year terms on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday. They join the 10-nation roster of nonpermanent members to the council, along with incoming nations Estonia, Vietnam and – in a first for the smallest country to ever hold a…
Sixteen human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Enough Project as well as regional African groups, have asked the United Nations Security Council to maintain the arms embargo and other sanctions in South Sudan while pressuring leaders to implement the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict…
On Thursday, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali declared three days of mourning for the country’s 26 soldiers killed in an attack one week ago at a military base in Dioura, in the central part of the Sahel nation. The number of dead continues to rise, according to Malian sources….
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
A sharply divided United Nations Security Council discussed the political crisis in Venezuela during an emergency meeting called by the United States on Saturday, with the council’s African members pressing for a national dialogue and respect for Venezuelan sovereignty rather than the forced removal of President Nicolás Maduro. The contentious…
For the first time in five years, the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday focused on a theme of drug trafficking and its security threats – and that put West and Central Africa at the center of the briefing. Yury Fedotov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs…
The government of Eritrea responded to Wednesday’s United Nations Security Council decision to lift international sanctions with a sharply worded statement that reflected both its acceptance of the decision and its longstanding defiance over the sanctions. “The Government of Eritrea welcomes this belated decision to redress injustice, almost a decade…
The Democratic Republic of Congo is among nations where authorities are working to reduce the impact of organized crime that is thriving among armed groups in conflict zones and financing international terrorism. That’s according to experts who briefed the United Nations Security Council this week. They discussed progress and challenges…