SECURITY COUNCIL VOICES ‘SERIOUS CONCERN’ AT AUNG SAN SUU KYI VERDICT

The Security Council today added its voice to those calling for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, while expressing concern over this week's verdict against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The members of the Security Council express serious concern at the conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and its political impact," Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said in a statement read out to the press.

Ms. Suu Kyi, who leads the National League for Democracy (NLD), was convicted on 11 August of violating state security laws after an uninvited United States citizen gained access to her home.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has already spent over 12 years under house arrest, was sentenced to a further 18 months of the same punishment.

The Council also reiterated the importance of the release of all political prisoners and urged the Government of Myanmar "to take further measures to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation."

Earlier this week, both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN human rights chief Navi Pillay deplored the decision by the Myanmar court and urged that Ms. Suu Kyi be released immediately and unconditionally.

"Unless she and all other political prisoners in Myanmar are released and allowed to participate in free and fair elections, the credibility of the political process will remain in doubt," a spokesperson for Mr. Ban said in a statement.
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SECURITY COUNCIL DEPLORES DEADLY ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Security Council members today condemned the "grave attacks" in southern Sudan this weekend that have killed at least 185 people, many of them women and children.

Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said the attacks were especially concerning given that they seemed to target women and children and involved the use of sophisticated weaponry.

The killings took place on Sunday in Akobo in Jonglei state and the victims reportedly include more than 100 women and children. At least 60 people from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also reported dead as a result of the attacks.

Mr. Sawers, speaking on behalf of Council members, stressed the need for the protection of civilians and measures to ensure humanitarian relief can reach those people in need.

They also said they support the joint efforts of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (<"http://unmis.unmissions.org/">UNMIS), the Government of Southern Sudan and local authorities to investigate the causes of the violence and to prevent any retaliatory attacks.

If the attacks continue, Mr. Sawers warned, they could jeopardize the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the wide-ranging pact from 2005 that ended the long-running and brutal Sudanese civil war between north and south.

Today's remarks from the Council echoed a statement issued yesterday by a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he voiced extreme concern at the situation and directed UN officials to provide aid and assistance to the victims of the violence.

COOPERATION WITH AFRICAN UNION CRUCIAL TO PROMOTING PEACE – SECURITY COUNCIL

COOPERATION WITH AFRICAN UNION CRUCIAL TO PROMOTING PEACE – SECURITY COUNCIL
New York, May 28 2009 8:00PM
Enhanced collaboration with the African Union (AU) will help to promote peace and security in Africa, members of the Security Council delegation, which recently wrapped up a week-long visit to the continent, said today.

The Council mission held talks – a follow-up to two previous gatherings in 2007 and 2008 – with their AU counterpart in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 16 May, agreeing "to pursue their consultations on ways and means to strengthen their cooperation and partnership," according to a communiqué issued after the talks.

Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda of Uganda told the 15-member body today that "meetings between the two bodies are useful in strengthening cooperation, particularly in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, including the promotion of human rights, democracy, and rule of law and constitutional order in Africa."

Also highlighting the virtues of UN-AU collaboration was Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, who was the joint leader of the mission to the Great Lakes region in connection with Rwanda.

He said the Council's meeting at the with the AU's Peace and Security Council "demonstrated the depth of the relationship and the ways in which it's becoming more substantive," noting such areas of cooperation such as Somalia and Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, where the hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping mission, known as <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unamid/">UNAMID, is in place.

Regarding the mission's Rwanda leg, Mr. Sawers said that it was "invaluable" for the Council to see first-hand the situations in the region that it is dealing with, such as the rapprochement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, who joined forces to root out the mainly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) from the DRC's east.

For his part, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, who led the mission in the Great Lakes in connection with the DRC, highlighted the serious issue of sexual violence, "which is far too wide-spread."

He said that the Council delegation was "able to see this with horror" when the visited a hospital in the capital, Kinshasa. The Government has taken measures, including creating a fund to promote the protection of children, he added.

The DRC has "already started combating impunity and this must remain a priority, which we re-affirmed to the government," Mr. Ripert noted. "Armed groups, the FARDC [Congolese armed forces], must stop all their abuses against the population, in particular, rapes."

United States Ambassador Susan Rice, who led the last leg of the Council's Africa trip, told the Council that the purpose of the delegation's visit to Liberia was to "help re-affirm the Security Council's support for the Government and people of Liberia and for UNMIL's [the UN Mission in Liberia] efforts to promote peace and security."

She paid tribute to the "inspiring" all-women Indian formed police unit (FPU) – comprising police officers who have received specialized training in high-risk operations and managing crowds – serving with <"http://unmil.org/">UNMIL. They have "helped to motivate more Liberian women to apply for more law enforcement jobs," she said.

Last June, a similar Security Council mission visited Djibouti, Sudan, Chad, DRC and Côte d'Ivoire.
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