Overview
Equatorial Guinea will have the presidency in February. It will organise a high-level debate on “Mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa”, with the Central African sub-region as a focus. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is expected to preside. President Obiang will also chair an open debate on the AU initiative “Silencing the Guns in Africa”. A debate on transnational organised crime at sea is also planned.
The Council will undertake a visiting mission to Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau in February. A briefing on the visiting mission is scheduled shortly after the delegation returns. Later in the month the Council is expected to renew the mandate of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.
The other mandate renewal expected this month is for the Panel of Experts of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee. Also anticipated are a briefing and consultations on UNAMID in Sudan and on the peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, in the CAR and the 2127 CAR sanctions regime.
The Council is expected to follow developments in Yemen closely and is likely to be briefed by Special Envoy Martin Griffiths during the month. It is also expected to renew the Yemen sanctions regime before its expiry at the end of February.
Other Middle East issues that will be considered are:
- Iraq, an update on the activities of UNAMI;
- Israel-Palestine, the regular monthly meeting; and
- Syria, the monthly briefings on chemical weapons and the humanitarian situation, and an update on the political situation.
Other meetings include a briefing by Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, the head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, and Michèle Coninsx, the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate on the Secretary-General’s strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
The Council is expecting a briefing on UNMIK (Kosovo) and another on the activities of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee.
Meetings may also be added on Burundi, the DRC and Myanmar during the month. Members are also anticipating three Arria-formula meetings: on children and armed conflict, peacekeeping and women, peace and security.
