Monthly DPA Briefing
Tomorrow (14 October) Council members will have their monthly briefing on emerging issues by DPA head, B. Lynn Pascoe. It seems the briefing will focus on Somalia, Madagascar and UN sanctions committees and their panels of experts. It is possible that some Council members may also want to discuss the situation in Syria.
One of the issues Pascoe is likely to cover in talking about Somalia is the security situation, and in particular new threats coming from the Islamist rebel organization Al-Shabaab following the 4 October suicide bombing in Mogadishu. It appears the other issue he may focus on is the implementation of the recently agreed road map for ending the transition in Somalia before August 2012. The road map has a tight timeline and there are several important tasks scheduled for completion in October. Its timely implementation is a key issue for the Council and Pascoe is likely to provide an update on progress in this regard.
On Madagascar, it seems that Pascoe will provide more information on the request from Madagascar for the UN to provide support for a roadmap which was agreed to on 17 September by political parties in Madagascar. (There has been a political impasse in the country since March 2009 when a coup led by Andry Rajoelina forced the resignation of then President Marc Ravalomanana, who fled the country. Rajoelina then set up the High Transitional Authority to govern the country.) The roadmap calls for the establishment of transitional institutions ahead of the elections and it appears that the UN has been asked to support the transition to constitutional rule.
On 25 September the Secretary-General met the President of the High Transitional Authority in Madagascar, on the sidelines of the General Assembly where they discussed the next steps in the implementation of the recently signed roadmap to end the crisis in Madagascar.
On the issue of sanctions committees and panels of experts, it seems that Pascoe is likely to cover some general issues that have arisen recently in this area. It appears that among the recent problems have been disputes over the terms of new contracts, resignations of a number of members, questions regarding the independence of the panels, as well as unhappiness from some experts over delays in the publication of reports.
