SOMALIA: SECURITY COUNCIL SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RECENT SUICIDE BOMBING

The Security Council today strongly condemned the suicide car-bomb attack in Somalia that killed the national security minister, Omar Hashi Aden, and a number of innocent civilians on 18 June.

The blast at a hotel in Beledweyne, north of the capital, Mogadishu, reportedly killed 35 people.

In a press statement read out by Ambassador Baki Ilkin of Turkey, which holds the rotating Council presidency for June, the 15-member body offered "their sincere condolences to the families of those murdered or injured in the attack, as well as to the Government and the people of Somalia."

The Council reiterated its support for the Transitional Federal Government, its efforts to achieve peace, security and reconciliation in Somalia through the UN-facilitated Djibouti process, which aided the formation of the new government in February, as well as the creation of a newly-expanded Parliament and election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

The body also expressed its continued backing for the work of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in its statement, while condemning the recent flare up of deadly violence in the Horn of Africa country.
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SECURITY COUNCIL TEXT ON DPR KOREA NUCLEAR TESTS EXPECTED THIS WEEK – PRESIDENT

SECURITY COUNCIL TEXT ON DPR KOREA NUCLEAR TESTS EXPECTED THIS WEEK – PRESIDENT
New York, Jun 2 2009 6:01PM
The President of the United Nations Security Council said today that the 15-member body could have a draft resolution on the recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in a few days.

"I hope we will have something during the course of this week," Ambassador Baki Ilkin of Turkey, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council for June, told reporters in New York.

Last week Council members "voiced their strong opposition to and condemnation of" the nuclear test conducted by DPRK on 25 May, and started work on a resolution on the matter.

It said the test was a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution adopted shortly after Pyongyang detonated its first nuclear device. That resolution demanded that the country "not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile."

"It's a highly complex text… It takes time, and we must get it right," Mr. Ilkin said of the text currently under consideration

"What is important is that we do have this resolution that has an impact on what we want to achieve on the DPRK," he added.

Asked if there was a sense of urgency, Mr. Ilkin said, "The sense of urgency is there. Everyone is aware of the sense of urgency."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week said the tests jeopardize continuing global efforts to achieve nuclear disarmament.

Mr. Ban, addressing Finland's Parliament in Helsinki, said DPRK's nuclear test and its subsequent launch of short-range missiles not only "create tension in the region," but "will also pose serious implications to peace and security on the regional and global level."

On whether any effort was made to contact representatives of the DPRK to get their side of the story, Mr. Ilkin said, "Every side knows exactly what the other side expects from one another. And in the case of Korea ... they know exactly what the international community wants."

"They want them to stop these tests," he said.
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