UNSC adopts series of resolutions related to Houthi, Golan Heights and DR Congo

The UNSC voted to pass a resolution on Houthi on June 27. (Source: UN News)

* Resolution 2737 extends the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF) for another 6 months until December 31, 2024.

The resolution requires the UN Secretary-General to ensure that UNDOF has the capacity and resources necessary to carry out its mission “safely”.

The 15-member Security Council also stressed that Israel and Syria have an obligation to “strictly and fully” respect the terms of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement; urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any violations of the ceasefire agreement, and to resolve issues of mutual concern through communication with UNDOF.

UNDOF was established after the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, with the mission of maintaining the ceasefire and monitoring the separation line area, a demilitarized buffer zone between Israel and Syria.

* Resolution 2738 (2024) extends the mandate of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo until 1 August 2025 and sanctions against the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo until July 2025.

The Security Council reiterated the UN Secretary-General’s commitment to “do all that is possible” to ensure that the killers of the two members of the Group of Experts and the four Congolese nationals accompanying them are brought to justice.

In March 2017, two experts, Michael Sharp (American) and Zaida Catalan (Swedish), were kidnapped while investigating crimes in Kasai, a volatile region where fighting is taking place between the government forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and rebel forces.

The UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) later discovered the two experts murdered outside the city of Kananga in Kasai province.

* Resolution 2739 (2024), demanding that the Houthi forces in Yemen immediately end all attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, was adopted by the Security Council with 12 votes in favor and 3 abstentions from Russia, China and Algeria.

The resolution requests the UN Secretary-General to provide monthly reports on the current crisis in the Red Sea region from now until January 2025.

The text stressed that all member states “must comply with their obligations relating to the targeted arms embargo” on key Houthi leaders, as set out in Resolution 2216 of 2015.