S/PV.6924 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2013/102, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by Morocco, Rwanda, Togo and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2013/26, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on developments in Guinea-Bissau and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in that country. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2092 (2013). I shall now give the floor to the member of the Council who wishes to make a statement following the voting.

Guatemala voted in favour of resolution 2092 (2013) owing to the importance we attach to the work of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), the situation in that country and the need for the political situation to move in the right direction, namely, a return to a constitutionally elected Government. We also did so because we agree with extending the mandate of UNIOGBIS for an additional three months, so as to provide an opportunity for a new assessment of the situation in the country and the eventual role of the mission. However, as my colleagues know, we had certain difficulties with the seventh preambular paragraph of the draft resolution. We did not want to impede the adoption of the resolution, which, I wish to emphasize, we support as a whole. However, we did want to set out the reason for those difficulties, namely, that the text of the resolution takes note of the signing of a memorandum of understanding concerning the implementation of the road map for the reform of the security sector in Guinea-Bissau. That is a document we have never seen, and we would therefore be ill-advised to take note of a document whose contents have not been shared with us. We point that out in the fervent hope that all the relevant information in the Council’s resolutions will be fully shared with all members in a timely manner. In conclusion, I should like to point out that, since the military coup d’état in Guinea-Bissau on 12 April 2012, Guatemala has participated actively in Security Council discussions and has supported its resolutions and statements. Owing to our own history, we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards such breaches of the constitutional order. We therefore supported the Security Council’s decision to continue to actively consider this issue. We call for the early resumption of a democratic electoral process and for the restoration of a legitimate Government in the country.

There are no more names inscribed on the list of speakers. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.