What's In Blue

Posted Mon 25 Apr 2011
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Insights on the Programme of Work

Today (Monday, 25 April) a new provisional programme of work for the Council has been posted. There are a number of changes to the Council’s work schedule for this week.

A new addition is a briefing by the Secretary-General tomorrow (Tuesday, 26 April). The Secretary-General is expected to brief on his recent trip to Qatar and Egypt. He was in Qatar to attended the first meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya and in Egypt for a meeting of the Arab League which discussed efforts to coordinate the international response to Libya. (Following these two events, the Secretary-General embarked on an official trip to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia.) The Secretary-General’s briefing may include recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa, including Syria. The most likely format appears to be a briefing followed by informal consultations.

The new programme of work also reflects a change to the expected adoption date for a draft resolution extending the Côte d’Ivoire sanctions regime and renewing the mandate of the panel of experts of the Côte d’Ivoire Sanctions Committee. The adoption had been scheduled for Tuesday, 26 April but it has now been moved to Thursday, 28 April. It appears that the first meeting at expert level to negotiate the draft resolution to extend the sanctions and renew the panel of experts will take place today. It seems there is interest in calling for a 12-month renewal of the sanctions regime with a mid-way review. It appears that there will be little change to the sanctions regime at this stage. There is a sense that until there is greater stability in Côte d’Ivoire it is best to leave the sanctions in place. By contrast, the earlier inclination to add new individuals to the list seems to have diminished given the changed circumstances on the ground.

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