Cooperation between the UN Security Council and the League of Arab States: Briefing
Tomorrow (23 January) the Security Council is expected to hold a briefing on “Cooperation between the Security Council and the League of Arab States”. The briefers will be: Mohamed Khaled Khiari, the Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS). Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf is expected to chair the meeting. Council members have been negotiating a draft presidential statement, but at time of writing, it was unclear if agreement would be reached by the time of the meeting.
In recent years, Arab Council members have held meetings on UN-LAS cooperation during their presidencies, including Kuwait in June 2019, Tunisia in January 2021, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March 2022 and June 2023. The Council has adopted presidential statements in connection with three of these meetings: S/PRST/2019/5, S/PRST/2021/2, and S/PRST/2022/1. These statements have focused on the importance of enhancing cooperation between the UN and the LAS. The two most recent ones have reiterated the Council’s intention to promote strengthened cooperation between the UN and the LAS on early warning, prevention, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, sustaining peace, addressing the root causes of conflicts, and countering terrorism. Since 2021, Council members have also held three high-level informal interactive dialogues (IIDs), with the representatives of the Arab Summit Troika and the LAS Secretary-General during the high-level week in September.
Algeria has circulated a concept note outlining the following objectives of the meeting:
- to assess the current state of collaboration between the UN and the LAS in addressing multiple persisting regional crises;
- to identify practical methods to leverage the expertise of the Security Council and the LAS in conflict prevention and resolution;
- to consider immediate and long-term strategies and mechanisms for successfully addressing ongoing regional challenges;
- to explore ways to develop joint approaches to humanitarian assistance and civilian protection; and
- to consider mechanisms to address the regional spillover effects of conflicts.
The concept note further poses questions to help guide the discussion, including:
- How can the Security Council and the LAS better synchronise their efforts to address the multiple crises affecting the Arab region?
- What practical steps can the UN and the LAS take to enhance their joint capacity for conflict prevention and resolution in response to emerging regional challenges?
- How can the Security Council and the LAS develop more effective mechanisms for implementing Council resolutions?
The briefers and Council members may underscore the importance of strengthened coordination between the UN Secretariat and LAS Secretariat and effective dialogue between UN and LAS officials on peace and security issues in the Arab world. Several Council members may stress the heightened importance of this relationship at a time when LAS countries are facing a growing number of rapidly evolving security, political, and humanitarian challenges. It is also possible that the idea of an annual informal meeting between members of the Council and the LAS to address issues of mutual concern might be raised; such a meeting could be modeled after the annual meeting between the members of the Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council, which has been held since 2007.
Several crisis situations in the Arab world will likely be covered during the meeting. Many members are likely to refer to the war between Israel and Hamas and call for the two parties to implement their recently agreed ceasefire in good faith. They may also be interested in hearing how the UN and the LAS can work together to pursue this goal. Some may also emphasise the essential role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in surging humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while expressing concern about Israeli legislation expected to go into effect at the end of January that would severely hinder UNRWA’s operations. (For background, see our 16 January What’s in Blue story.)
In its 16 May 2024 communiqué at the 33rd session of the LAS Council in Bahrain, Arab leaders reiterated their “call for a just and comprehensive peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, [and] for an international peace conference to be convened and for irreversible steps to be taken to implement the two-State solution”. While this view has long been shared by all Council members, there may be a shift in the US position under US President Donald Trump.
Speakers may reference the ceasefire arrangement agreed by Israel and Lebanon on 26 November 2024 and underscore the importance of extending the 60-day deadline for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to withdraw south of the Blue Line and, in parallel, for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to deploy to positions south of the Litani river, which is set to expire at 4 am local time on 26 January. (The Blue Line is a withdrawal line set by the UN in 2000 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. For background, see our 17 January What’s in Blue story.) Briefing the Council on 20 January, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the ceasefire was fragile but holding.
The situation in Syria will also most likely be a key topic at tomorrow’s meeting. The Security Council and the broader UN membership appear to be adjusting their responses to keep pace with the rapidly unfolding developments and as they determine the appropriate path forward following the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on 8 December 2024. On 14 December 2024, the Arab ministerial contact group on Syria—comprising Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Aboul Gheit—convened in Aqaba, Jordan. The meeting was also attended by the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE. In a statement released following the meeting, the representatives expressed support for a peaceful and inclusive political transitional process that will be “sponsored” by the UN and the LAS, and adhere to the principles and objectives of resolution 2254 of 18 December 2015, which focused on a political solution to the Syria crisis.
Tomorrow, Council members may reiterate the views expressed in their 17 December 2024 press statement on Syria, where they called for the implementation of an inclusive and Syrian-led political process based on the key principles listed in resolution 2254. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Syria and called on all states to respect these principles. Members might also be interested in getting insights from the briefers about the 12 January meeting in Saudi Arabia of key regional and international interlocutors on Syria that built on the ministerial discussion in Aqaba late last year.
The situation in Sudan, where fighting continues to rage between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with devastating humanitarian consequences, may be another topic of discussion. It has been estimated that approximately 150,000 people have died and 11 million have been displaced in the conflict that began in April 2023. One challenge has been that key LAS member states have held differing positions on Sudan, supporting different parties to the conflict. On 18 November 2024, Russia vetoed a Security Council draft resolution penned by Sierra Leone and the UK aimed at advancing the protection of civilians in Sudan, citing concerns about undermining Sudan’s sovereignty and stressing the need to consult with the Sudanese government before taking any actions on the ground. At tomorrow’s meeting, some members might underscore the need for the Council to develop means to improve the humanitarian situation in Sudan and to help facilitate an end to the conflict.