PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ON OCTOBER WORK PROGRAMME

The situations in Somalia and Côte d’Ivoire, and the topic of women, peace and security were among the issues highlighted this afternoon as Leslie Kojo Christian, Permanent Representative of Ghana, outlined the Security Council programme of work for his country’s October presidency.

Speaking at a Headquarters press conference, Mr. Christian said Raphael Tuju, Foreign Minister of Kenya, would address the Council tomorrow on the situation in Somalia.  The 15-member body would also hear a briefing by Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s new Special Representative for the East African country.

He said that on 15 October, the Council would hear a briefing on developments in Côte d’Ivoire from Djibril Yipene Bassolet, Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso, whose President Blaise Compaore had facilitated the Ouagadougou Agreement between the parties to the dispute in that country.  Among other concerns, the Council would consider whether sanctions on Côte d’Ivoire should be lifted.

The Council’s annual discussion of peacekeeping from a gender perspective, and a review of progress in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, would take place on 23 October, he said, adding that the concept paper for the anticipated day-long programme was still being finalized.

In addition to those topics, the Secretary-General’s Special Representatives for Guinea-Bissau and Iraq would present the latest developments in their countries of concern tomorrow afternoon and on the morning of 22 October, respectively.  The monthly briefing on the Middle East, followed by consultations on that topic, was planned for 24 October.

Also on the agenda for October were the renewal of the mandates of four peacekeeping missions, he said.  They were the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS).

Asked if further consideration of the situation in Myanmar was planned, he said the Security Council had already determined to request a briefing by Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to that country.

Regarding the attack on African Union peacekeepers condemned by the Council this afternoon, he said members were certainly concerned by its repercussions.  However, possible African troop contributors to the mandated African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation for Darfur (UNAMID) should not waver in their commitments.  Plans for the mission had not changed.

In response to further questions, he said the Council’s October agenda did not include, at the present time, consideration of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, or the situation involving Georgia and the Russian Federation.

Answering other questions in his national capacity, he said Ghana agreed with the African position on Security Council reform, namely, that the continent should have two permanent seats with veto power.  He also said cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations had become very good and was expected to become even better in the future.

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