Overview

Morocco will hold the December presidency of the Security Council. A high-level meeting on peace and security in the Sahel is planned and is likely to be presided over by Morocco’s Foreign Minister Saad-Eddine Al Othmani. The Secretary-General and his Special Envoy for the Sahel, Romano Prodi, are expected to brief.

An open debate on post-conflict peacebuilding with a likely briefing by the head of the Peacebuilding Support Office, Judy Cheng, is planned.

Two debates are planned: on the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and on Afghanistan. The debate on the tribunals will include briefings by the respective courts’ presidents and prosecutors. The debate on Afghanistan and UNAMA will most likely be preceded by a briefing from UNAMA’s head, Ján Kubiš.

Briefings are expected on:

• UN peacekeeping, with a focus on inter-mission cooperation, by the head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous, and the head of the Department for Field Support, Ameerah Haq;
• the work of Council subsidiary bodies by their departing chairs:
• the work of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa and the Secretary-General’s UNOCA/LRA report by Abou Moussa, the head of UNOCA;
• the Iran sanctions by the Sanctions Committee Chair, Ambassador Néstor Osorio (Colombia);
• the work of the ICC on Sudan by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda; and
• the situation in Yemen, by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser Jamal Benomar (this briefing was originally planned for November and was postponed).

There will be briefings, followed by consultations, on:

• the situation in Mali and the Secretary-General’s report regarding the deployment of an international stabilisation force in Mali, most likely by the Secretary-General; and
• the Middle East, most likely by Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

Briefings in consultations are likely on:

• Sudan and South Sudan (twice), most likely by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Haile Menkerios;
• the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei, by Ladsous;
• the Sudan sanctions, by Osorio;
• the Liberia sanctions, by the Sanctions Committee Chair, Ambassador Masood Khan (Pakistan);
• the efforts to restore constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau, possibly by Special Representative Joseph Mutaboba;
• the Guinea-Bissau sanctions, by the Sanctions Committee’s Chair, Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki (Morocco);
• the work of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) by the Secretariat; and
• Iraq-Kuwait issues, by High-level Coordinator Gennadi Tarassov.

The Council may also hold meetings on developments in Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Formal sessions will be needed to adopt resolutions on:

• the renewal of the mandate of the Ombudsperson assisting the 1267/1989 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and the mandate of the monitoring team assisting the 1267/1989 Sanctions Committee and the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee;
• modifying the 1988 Taliban Sanctions regime;
• the extension of the terms of judges of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia;
• the Liberia sanctions regime, to amend the sanctions provisions and renew the mandate of its Panel of Experts;
• the renewal of the mandate of the UNDOF;
• the authorisation of an African-led international support mission in Mali; and
• possibly on Timor-Leste (UNMIT).