UNSC President: Comments at the Stakeout

UNSC President: Comments at the Stakeout

Good afternoon everybody.

We’ve had two sets of informal consultations today. The first this morning was on Burundi. We were briefed by the Department of Political Affairs, the Assistant Secretary General Taye-Brook Zerihoun and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein.

As you’ll be aware the Council has been paying close attention to the situation in Burundi. We took note of and discussed the East Africa Community’s communique. There was broad support for the appointment of President Museveni to facilitate the dialogue, to find a way through contentious issues. Everybody stressed that dialogue was urgently needed and the situation should stay as calm as possible.

On Syria chemical weapons, we were briefed by Mr Kim Won-soo on his recent visit to The Hague and his discussions with the OPCW. There was broad welcoming in the Council today of the report and the outgoing cooperation with the OPCW and we’ll be looking forward to the reports of Fact Finding Mission and the ongoing work of the Declaration Assessment Team.

Question: On the draft resolution we’ve heard about, that was circulated by the United States on the chemical weapons in Syria, can you confirm that and where is it going from here?

There was a draft circulated for consideration by the Council but as to where it goes, I’d like you to talk to the sponsors of that.

Question: On Burundi, in the Chamber the representative of Burundi basically said there could be no extension beyond July 26 – he named the 22 July date to be a one week extension. Given all the issues on the table, in consultations was there a discussion of what he said and the fact that that might be the full extent of the extension?

What are the legal constraints around the constitution and whether it will be possible to have a different date was discussed, but no conclusions were reached about that point.

Question for the Ambassador please, in your national capacity what do you think the ideal attribution mechanism should be?

I don’t have instructions to cast that way I’m sorry.

Question: On Yemen, did the Council have anything to say about this announcement of a humanitarian pause to begin tomorrow?

We haven’t had any discussion about it so I don’t want to predicate about that.

[ENDS]

© Scoop Media