UN Security Council holds first vote by email for first time amid coronavirus pandemic

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted four resolutions on Monday, with its 15 members voting by email for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Members voted to keep troops in Sudan’s restive Darfur region until the end of May and maintain the UN political mission in Somalia until June 30.

The council extended the mandate of the UN panel of experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea until April 30 next year and stressed the importance of supporting the UN’s far-flung peacekeeping operations.

The UN’s most powerful body has been meeting by video because of the spread of coronavirus, which has hit New York City, where the UN has its headquarters, exceedingly hard.

The last council meeting in the headquarters complex was on March 12, when a resolution was adopted to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and welcome “encouraging developments” towards peace.

A resolution sponsored by the UK and Germany extends the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur known as Unamid until May 31, when the council said it would decide on “the responsible draw-down and exit” of the force.

The council said it also intended to establish “a follow-on presence to Unamid” at the same time.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003, when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Sudanese government at the time of discrimination.

The government in Khartoum was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing them on civilian populations – a charge it denies.

In recent years, as the result of a government military campaign, the rebellion has been reduced to a single rebel faction.

There has been pressure, including from the Trump administration, to scale down the UNAMID force in response to reduced fighting and security conditions.

It was established in 2007 and was one of the UN’s most expensive operations, with a ceiling of 15,845 military personnel and 3,403 police in June 2016.

In July 2018, the council voted to reduce the force, with a target to end the mission on June 30 this year.

But the mass street protests by a pro-democracy movement that began in late 2018 and led to last year’s ousting of Omar Al Bashir as president and the creation of a military-civilian transitional government caused a delay.

As of January, Unamid had more than 4,300 military personnel, more than 2,100 international police, and about 1,500 civilian staff.

The resolution adopted on Monday will maintain that force for two months.

A proposed council resolution obtained by AP this month would replace Unamid with a UN political and peace-building mission whose primary aim would be to support Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy, including drafting a new constitution and preparing for elections.

But that proposal could be changed before the council makes a final decision on Unamid and a follow-on mission at the end of May.

China, which holds the rotating council presidency this month, sponsored a resolution adopted unanimously that stressed “the crucial role” that UN peacekeepers play “in achieving conditions for stability and a lasting peace”.

It also urged countries where the peacekeepers are sent to ensure their freedom of movement.

UN peacekeeping has more than 100,000 field workers, including military, police and civilians, from more than 120 countries. They are involved in 13 active missions across three continents.

The resolution expressed “grave concern about security threats and targeted attacks” against peacekeepers in many missions and condemned “in the strongest terms” all violence and killings of peacekeeping personnel.

It also called for the prompt investigation and prosecution of those responsible for attacks against peacekeeping personnel.