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Updated on 24 December 2015

Chapter 3:   THE PEOPLE

Section 1:   The President

 

Quiet diplomacy’ by the Council President and a sanctions committee Chair

 

At a Council meeting held on 17 December 2015 (S/PV.7586), a briefing was given by the outgoing Chair of the sanctions committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  In her capacity as Chair, the representative of Lithuania reported that despite her repeated follow-up, the delegations of Burundi, the Congo, the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania had failed to respond to letters from the Committee in connection with the findings and recommendations of the 2014 report of the Group of Experts assisting the Committee.  She went on to report that pursuant to an initiative of the Council President, she and the Council President had held joint bilateral consultations with two of those States “with a view to underlining the importance of the Committee’s requests for information”.  Unfortunately, this “quiet diplomacy” did not yield results.  According to the Chair, “the fact remains that none of the Member States concerned has responded to my letters of 8 May, some of which encouraged the Governments of those States to undertake investigations” in connection with the Experts’ findings and recommendations. 

 

Another instance of “quiet diplomacy” by the Council President took place in 2014.  On 26 March of that year, during informal consultations, Council members expressed deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Burundi, including violence between the police and members of the opposition.  It was noted that the situation in Burundi had been growing increasingly tense soon after the Council decided, by its resolution 2137 (2014) of 13 February 2014, to close the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) by 31 December 2014, as requested by the Government.  Consequently, during the 26 March consultations, the Council members asked the Council President to meet with the representative of Burundi to convey the members’ questions and concerns regarding the developments in that country.  The President did so the following day, and then reported back to the Council on 28 March (see “Assessment of the work of the Security Council during the presidency of Luxembourg, March 2014” (S/2014/575 of 7 August 2014)).  (This update supplements pages 121 and 519-535 of the book.)

 

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