S/PV.7752 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/2016/659, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by France. 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 11 votes in favour, none against and 4 abstentions. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2303 (2016). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

I wish to take this opportunity to convey the gravity of the occasion today as we have just adopted resolution 2303 (2016), on Burundi. After intense negotiations, today the Security Council has taken an important decision that marks a potentially decisive step on the path to peace in Burundi. I wish to thank all my colleagues and their teams for the great amount of work that we done together in a consistently constructive spirit. In adopting resolution 2303 (2016), the Security Council is pursuing two main goals. The first is to support an authentic inter-Burundian dialogue. The Security Council strongly reaffirms that only a peaceful dialogue among all Burundians will allow Burundi to restore lasting peace. To that end, the Security Council is renewing its full support to the facilitator of the inter-Burundian dialogue, former President Benjamin Mkapa. The Security Council urges the Burundian parties to commit without delay to the process led by Mr. Mkapa in a constructive and sincere manner. Next week’s visits to Tanzania and Kenya by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jean-Marc Ayrault, will provide the opportunity to renew that support. The Security Council also reiterating its support for the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General, Mr. Benomar, so that he can support the work of the facilitators. The dialogue must be based in no uncertain terms on the Arusha Peace Agreement and respect it in letter and spirit. More than ever, the Arusha Peace Agreement is the compass that must guide stakeholders in Burundi and the international community. The second goal is to end the violence and calm tensions in Burundi. Let us be clear — as the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights has underscored, acts of violence persist in Burundi, accompanied by an increase of serious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms. The number of cases of forced disappearances and torture in detention centres, the location of which is often kept secret, is even on the rise. Targeted acts of political violence continue and only increase tensions. Last month, the arrest of 70 young people for having drawn caricatures of the President of Burundi in their school notebooks was a very troubling indication of that. In order to contribute to calming the situation, the Security Council expresses its readiness to adopt sanctions against all those who threaten peace and security in Burundi. Moreover, the Security Council urges the Government of Burundi to finally allow the deployment of 200 observers of the African Union in compliance with the commitments undertaken last February to the delegation of the Heads of State of the African Union. As of today, fewer than 50 of those observers are deployed in Burundi. Finally, based on a proposal by the Secretary- General, the Security Council has decided to deploy 228 United Nations police officers to monitor the security and human rights situations. With the rise in violence and tensions, the Security Council must be have all ears and eyes on the ground to alert, prevent and avoid the worst in Burundi. By helping to reassure the people, the police presence should assist in dissipating tensions, thereby facilitating a peaceful dialogue. It will also help to alert the Council if the situation further deteriorates. In its history, Burundi has already experienced tragic massacres wherein ethnicity was exploited for the worst ends. Today, the Security Council is carrying out its responsibility so that history does not repeat itself. Within the Chamber, we often stress the importance of acting in a timely manner in order to prevent conflicts. That is exactly what the Security Council is doing through the adoption of resolution 2303 (2016). Today, we are collectively carrying out a decisive act of preventive diplomacy faced with the threat of tragedy, requiring us to continue to work tirelessly, despite our differences and with Burundi, to pave the necessary way to peace. We will never forget the Rwandan genocide of 1994. We will never forget our collective responsibility in connection with what happened in Rwanda. We promised ourselves: “Never again”. By adopting resolution 2303 (2016), the Security Council is learning from the past. By adopting resolution 2303 (2016), the Security Council is acting in order to prevent Burundi from reliving the worst possible scenario. By adopting resolution 2303 (2016), the Security Council has heeded the desire of the people of Burundi to finally resume the road to peace. Today, while we are not at the end of the road, we have taken a major step and sent a loud message together.

Egypt shares the concern of the other members of the Security Council with regard to the current situation in Burundi. Egypt is fully convinced that the Security Council must play an active and effective role, in cooperation with African and regional partners, in supporting Burundi’s efforts to restore peace and stability and find solutions to its challenges through serious and genuine national dialogue. Egypt sought to maintain a positive approach based on cooperation vis-a-vis the Council and its discussion on Burundi. We sought to preserve the unity of the Council so that we could send a strong message reflecting the desire of the international community to see stability restored in Burundi. Egypt has consistently upheld that the deployment of a police contingent in Burundi should take Burundi’s national position into account and be the subject of consensus among the members of the Security Council. It should also enjoy Burundi’s support as as to ensure that Burundi’s effective implementation of the resolution, thereby allowing a constructive interaction between Burundi and the United Nations. Despite divergent points of view, Egypt and other like-minded Council members have taken a positive and constructive approach to this issue that has led to a result that takes the concerns of all members of the Council into account. All these efforts notwithstanding, the resolution adopted today does not address our concerns, but rather imposes an option that Burundian authorities do not support. Moreover, the resolution selectively addresses the Secretary-General’s recommendations regarding the mandate of the police contingent, which could result in Burundi’s refusal to cooperate in the implementation of the resolution and could challenge the credibility of the Security Council. We even fear that the current situation could have a negative effect on the African Union’s efforts and on the mediation efforts of the East African Community. My delegation therefore abstained in the voting on today’s resolution on the police contingent, as the current language does not take our concerns into account and does not fully represent the views of all members of the Council. It may also cost the international community the opportunity of cooperating with Burundi on the deployment of the police contingent. This is a legitimate concern, because the resolution has been adopted outside of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, and is consistent with the principles of peacekeeping operations calling for the participation and agreement of host countries. Finally, I reaffirm Egypt’s commitment to continue striving for positive and constructive cooperation between the Security Council and Burundi with a view to enhancing the role of the United Nations and helping to restore stability to Burundi and to overcome existing challenges.

Mr. President, we welcome your efforts in convening this meeting late on a Friday afternoon, which means that it is important for the Council to deliberate on this question. Angola abstained in the voting on resolution 2303 (2015) for the following reasons. First, we welcome the active engagement of the African Union in Burundi and the consent of the Burundian authorities to the deployment of 200 human rights observers and military experts. We call for their rapid deployment, for the cooperation of the Government of Burundi, and for international support for the attainment of this objective. Secondly, we deem the coordination and cooperation with the Burundian Government to be essential to guaranteeing an engagement in the country that will result in helping Burundi to return to peace. Therefore, we are of the view that the establishment of the United Nations police component in Burundi and its progressive deployment should be done in consultation with the Government of Burundi. Thirdly, the resolution should make a tangible contribution to urgently needed political dialogue, which must be pursued fundamentally by strengthening cooperation among the Government of Burundi, the mediator, the East African Community facilitator and the Special Advisers on the Responsibility to Protect and on the Prevention of Genocide. Fourthly, during the negotiations, in a joint effort with other members of the Council, Angola made good- faith proposals that were aimed at a widely accepted compromise. We regret that these proposals have not been sufficiently taken into account. We feel that with regard to Burundi, the Council must send a clear and united message. This clarity, unfortunately, has not seemed to persist or prevail, particularly in connection with the deployment of the police contingent. Angola stands ready to continue to engage with all members of the Council towards the achievement of peace and security in Burundi and in the region at large.

China commends the positive initiatives taken by the Burundian Government to maintain national stability and promote internal reconciliation, and urges the parties in Burundi to actively participate in the political dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue and consultation. China supports the mediation efforts of regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union and the East African Community, on the question of Burundi, and the United Nations ongoing constructive role in seeking a political solution to the question. United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions should be deployed on the basis of full consultation with the country concerned and follow the principle of the consent of the host country. That is the only way to ensure that peacekeeping operations and special political missions can deploy smoothly and implement their mandate. On the question of sending United Nations police to Burundi, it is necessary to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Burundi and engage in full consultations with its Government in an effort to reach a Burundi-led settlement that enjoys the consent of all concerned parties. Resolution 2303 (2015) does not address the aforementioned principles. China was therefore compelled to abstain in the voting. China urges the parties concerned to proceed with caution on the question of sending police to Burundi, to consult fully with the Burundian Government and to reach an agreement in advance of their deployment.

Uruguay participated actively in the drafting of resolution 2303 (2015) and commends the dedication and patient work of the penholder in the drafting of the text, which we have just adopted. In drafting the text, we were fundamentally motivated by the urgent need to address the grave humanitarian situation in Burundi. Reliable sources, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, have denounced the persistence of and, in some cases, the increase in human rights violations in Burundi — cases of torture, forced disappearances, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and restrictions on fundamental freedoms. Against this critical backdrop, measures set forth in the resolution, including the sending of a police officers component, could help provide relief from the extreme vulnerability that the people of Burundi are experiencing, which requires immediate attention. The resolution authorizes the deployment of a maximum of 228 police officers. In Uruguay’s judgment, the rate at which they are deployed should be coordinated with the authorities of Burundi in order to achieve the successful implementation of the resolution we have adopted today.

The United Kingdom welcomes the adoption today of resolution 2303 (2016) establishing a United Nations police component in Burundi. We extend our thanks to the France for its patient efforts to try to find consensus on the resolution. We regret that not every member of the Security Council was able to support the resolution today. A united Council would have sent a clear message to the Government of Burundi to accept the police deployment. In the face of the worrying state of affairs in Burundi, the Security Council had a clear duty to act. The situation on the ground remains fragile, with a very real potential for a spiral into mass violence. The United Nations police component, working with human rights observers from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, can help stop that spiral. Together, they can prevent the further deterioration of the security situation and help decrease human rights violations. In doing so, the deployment will help create an environment conducive to political dialogue, a goal that all of us share. But we need to recognize that today’s resolution is just a starting point. We must insist on the full deployment of the 228 police officers authorized by the resolution, and we need to be clear that this deployment is designed to monitor the actions of all parties in Burundi, protect all Burundians and support a political solution to the crisis. But to find this solution, the Government must commit to and participate in good faith in a genuine and inclusive political dialogue. We, the Security Council, cannot let up in our calls for this dialogue. We must ensure that the eyes of the Council remain on Burundi.

As we said at yesterday’s open debate at the ministerial level (see S/PV.7750), in our opinion we have failed to help the Burundians build a lasting peace and have been unable to show a united front in conveying to the Government of Burundi the urgent need to find a way out of this crisis. We did not achieve consensus, but the Council was nevertheless able to adopt a decision — resolution 2303 (2016) — which in and of itself is already tremendously important. What do we see in this resolution? We see three things. First, we are sending a message to the country that the rounds of dialogue should continue, in order to ensure the protection of civilians and the general population so that violations of human rights cease. Secondly, with resolution 2303 (2016), we are trying to convey our wish that there be increased coordination of and coherence in all the various efforts that are currently being undertaken. Thirdly, and finally, with the resolution, we are making a clear call to the leaders of the region to get involved more substantially and effectively in order to resolve the crisis. In the 1990s, as we mentioned, we were not able to avoid catastrophe, but I hope that history has given us a second chance to try to avoid one now.

Eighteen months ago, with the closure of the United Nations Office in Burundi previously authorized by resolution 2137 (2014), there was immense hope that Burundi had turned the final page on a tragic chapter in its history. At that point, Burundi seemed poised to move out of the post-conflict phase into a period that would consolidate the political, economic and social gains built on the principles of the Arusha Agreement as well as those enshrined in the country’s Constitution. Therefore the political and security turmoil in Burundi that arose in 2015 and which persists today is deeply distressing. Instead of moving forward, there are legitimate fears that the country is being drawn back to its dark days of violent conflict. The Security Council has often been faulted in the past for not acting quickly enough in response to crises. Too often, the Council reacts only after a situation has significantly deteriorated to the point where it cannot be ignored. In supporting resolution 2303 (2016) adopted today, Malaysia believes that the Council’s decision represents a novel approach to conflict prevention in a region with a long history of conflict as the status quo. This time we are not waiting for the worst to occur before taking action. We strongly condemn all acts of violence that have occurred in the course of the protracted political crisis in Burundi. Violence will never result in a permanent solution. Rather, genuine, credible and inclusive political dialogue is the only viable path to resolving the crisis in Burundi in a peaceful manner. We commend and support the leading role played by regional organizations, including the African Union and the East African Community, to mediate dialogue and restore stability in Burundi. We believe that the combination of a United Nations police component to monitor the security situation on the ground and strengthen United Nations capacity for human rights monitoring mandated by resolution 2303 (2016) can help create an environment conducive to supporting a viable political dialogue. We wish to make it clear that the consent and cooperation of the Government of Burundi is fundamental for the successful implementation of the resolution. Malaysia reaffirms the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Burundi, a principle that is clearly reflected in the text and stresses the primary role of the Government in upholding the security and human rights of its people. In this regard, we call for the Government of Burundi to extend its cooperation and for the United Nations to consult closely with the Burundian national authorities for the swift deployment of the United Nations police component. We appeal to the Burundian Government to take this opportunity to demonstrate its sincere commitment to resolving the crisis peacefully and give priority to the interests, security and welfare of the Burundian people. In conclusion, we wish to commend France, the penholder, for setting the tone for constructive negotiations on the draft text. While we regret that the resolution could not be adopted by full consensus, we support the resolution and its ultimate aim — to bring Burundi back to a path of lasting peace and stability. We fervently hope that the Government of Burundi and the international community greet this resolution in the same spirit we do.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela abstained in the voting on resolution 2303 (2016), on the deployment of an police officers component in Burundi for a year for substantive reasons that blocked the consensus that is needed for a subject as vital as the principle of obtaining the consent for such action from the concerned State. It is clear to us that there has been a lack of flexibility in this process, which has made it difficult to find a consensus position. Today’s voting reflects the prevalance of divergent positions in the Council with regard to managing the United Nations relationship with the State of Burundi. The resolution does not address one essential factor for the deployment of the police component — the consent of the Government of Burundi, the country’s principal institutional actor. It is not possible to implement the mandate of a document of the Security Council and the United Nations that does not reflect this principle. It is a text that will violate the country’s sovereignty, international law and the Charter of United Nations, and it sets a negative precedent for the international community. This is even more true because the resolution reaffirms the Council’s commitment to the political independence of Burundi. By not including a specific and clear reference to the consultations that should be held with the Burundian Government for the deployment of the police component, the resolution undermines its own provisions. Instead of specifically mentioning that element, it contains ambiguous language that sets a dangerous precedent for the future negotiations of other resolutions, which has in fact happened in previous situations. Our country notes that there are inconsistencies in the Security Council’s actions in relation to the concerned States and the relevant resolutions. In some cases, the Security Council has shown great weakness and laxity in taking unilateral actions against some States with regard to the deployment of peacekeeping missions. In other cases, including this one, the Security Council imposes its resolutions and disregards the opinion of the Government of Burundi, in violation of the principle of State consent. Venezuela recognizes the efforts of the African Union and other subregional and Burundian organizations to resolve the political crisis affecting that nation. Our country also shares the concerns that have been expressed by other States membes of the Council with regard to the potential deterioration of the situation in the country, which could lead to even greater conflict. That is why we reiterate our firm commitment to a peaceful settlement of the conflict — one of inclusive understanding reached through dialogue and in accordance with the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement and the country’s Constitution. We also support the dialogue and mediation process that is being led by former President of Tanzania, Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, and by President of Uganda, Mr. Yoweri Museveni, in the framework of an African and inter-Burundian dialogue. Finally, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela regrets that the opportunity was missed to reaffirm the Security Council’s responsibility to work in coordination with Burundi and to safeguard, together with the Member States of this Organization, the principles of the rule of law.

The Senegalese delegation welcomes the adoption of resolution 2303 (2016), which authorizes the deployment of a police component to Burundi. Just yesterday in this Chamber, our debate on peacebuilding (see S/PV.7750) demonstrated, inter alia, that the political and security situation in Burundi remained very worrisome. By adopting this resolution, the Council expresses its full support for the inter-Burundian dialogue, under the aegis of the East African Community through the good offices of the Special Adviser, in the spirit and letter of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. We are suddenly in a prevention situation to ensure that the worse does not occur. The African Union and the United Nations must monitor the situation together to assist the Government of Burundi and the opposition in holding a peaceful dialogue.

We are profoundly concerned about the dramatic deterioration of the situation in Burundi over the past year and a half. During this period, as we all know, some 270,000 people have been displaced; at least 348 people have reportedly been the victims of extrajudicial killings; and 651 reported cases of torture have been documented. These are just the crimes that we know about. All are worrying signs that the country’s brutal past may be repeating itself. This week, appalling new reports emerged of sexual violence by members of the ruling party’s youth militia, which we and other Council members have been warning about for several years. Women have said that they were raped simply because of their political party affiliations. This is sickening. Absent serious, concerted international engagement and pressure, the situation is all but certain to deteriorate further. The Council is not alone in its grave concern regarding these crimes or in its efforts to stop them and bring the perpetrators to justice. The United Nations has established an office in Burundi, drawn up contingency plans, sent the Secretary-General to Bujumbura and opened a Human Rights Council independent investigation into the situation. And, as we all know, in January the Security Council travelled to Burundi, where we urged President Nkurunziza to change course and pursue a path to peace. None of the steps that we asked the President to take has he embarked upon. Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) authorized the deployment of 200 human rights and military monitors, dispatched a delegation of five Heads of State to help address the evolving crisis, and authorized, initially, a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force to stem the violence. The AU began the deployment of human rights observers and military experts to Burundi on 22 July 2015 — more than a year ago — after the AU Peace and Security Council agreed to deploy monitors in May 2015. But rather than facilitating the deployment of AU monitors, the Government of Burundi spent months delaying the implementation of a memorandum of understanding that would have allowed the monitors to do their job. After rejecting a peacekeeping force, the Government promised AU Heads of State in February of this year that 200 monitors would be allowed to deploy. Yet today, only 36 monitors are in Burundi. I want to stress that this is the Government of Burundi with which many members of the Council have insisted we coordinate the United Nations deployment. Of course, the deployment must be coordinated with the Government of Burundi. In order for anybody to deploy, you have to coordinate with the Government that provides visas and landing rights at the airport, and that allows people to move around. But, honestly, listening to speakers today, I feel as if we are living in a parallel universe. Council are members speaking, in many cases, with no regard for what the Government is doing to Africa’s own monitors. It is especially disappointing not to hear the two abstainers from Africa even acknowledge the fate of Africa’s own monitors. We have got to merge the reality that we live in, in this beautiful Chamber, with the reality that is playing out on the ground every day. Today was an occasion when we could have sent a clear, unified message to the Government of Burundi that we will not allow similar tactics to delay the police deployment authorized today, and that continued obstruction of the AU mission must stop. If the African Members of the Council cannot stand for this, I do not know what we are doing here. This is a Government that is blocking their people from deploying. The African Council Members are trying to help. We are trying to help them help. The Government of Burundi has remained closed, unwilling to listen to its neighbours, partners and the international community, and resistant to following through on the commitments it has made. Meanwhile, it has to be stressed that some of those who oppose the Government continue also to resort to violence and to commit abuses. The United States strongly condemns violence perpetrated by all sides in Burundi. We hope that this presence, as it evolves, will document those abuses and empower us to come to agreement on what further steps might be taken. The authorization of a United Nations police component will put additional eyes and ears on the ground, who will be able report directly to the Security Council. That is valuable. But we should not harbour any illusions that this will fix Burundi’s problems. It will only at best observe those problems. Police are not being deployed to protect civilians, even though civilians are in dire need of protection. That should embarrass us. Instead, police are effectively being asked to be human rights monitors. That is the most that we as a Council were able to agree upon, and we could not even secure consensus on this. This really raises questions about the Council’s will when it comes to preventing atrocities, especially when a Government is implicated in atrocities. What the people of Bunrundi deserve and what the Council needs to continue to insist on is serious engagement by the Government in a process of dialogue with all stakeholders in order to reach agreement on a peaceful way forward. The games have to stop; the preconditions have to stop. The Government is still insisting on sitting down only with those it already agrees with. It must stop lashing out at civil society and the opposition, and the opposition, those who have engaged in violence, must renounce it and must itself refrain from setting these onerous preconditions for dialogue. No one will get anywhere if things continue as they are. The United States has settled for much less than what it wanted with this resolution. Others have spoken about good-faith proposals. I assure the Council that lots of good-faith proposals do not appear in the text of the resolution. But, as someone who has looked at the issues of mass atrocities over many years and studied it on many continents, I have to say that we worry that our inability to unite even on this sends precisely the wrong message to parties that already feel a great sense of impunity. These abstentions will be solace to a Government that relishes our division; it has always made that clear. It is not at all clear to me that a Council that says repeatedly that it has learned the lessons of Rwanda has in fact done so. It is not at all clear to me either that, for all the talk at yesterday’s Africa peacebuilding meeting (see S/PV.7750) about the importance of prevention, we in the Security Council are serious about prevention. This is a prevention moment, and yet this is where we are. What is clear is that we believe in the prevention of atrocities by non-State actors, but when a Government is implicated, we cannot even unite to send a robust monitoring presence. Today’s resolution is a step forward, but it is a much smaller one than this crisis and the people of Burundi deserve.

Let me begin by congratulating you, Mr. President, and the Japanese delegation for the effective presidency this month and welcoming the adoption of resolution 2303 (2016), which is an important prevention resolution. We would like to express our gratitude to the French delegation for its hard work on the draft and for taking on board a number of suggestions, including ours. Our delegation, recognizing the continued violations of human rights and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Burundi, strongly supports the deployment of a United Nations police component in the country. In our opinion, sending 228 police officers is the bare minimum for the moment. We strongly condemn the extra-judicial executions and torture perpetrated by the Burundian security forces from the onset of the crisis. Unfortunately, the latest report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documents an increase in the number of cases of forced disappearances and acts of torture in the country. All of this happened after our own visit to Burundi. In this regard, we urge the Burundian authorities to return to respecting, protecting and guaranteeing human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and to bring to justice all responsible for such crimes. Since only 32 human rights observers and 15 military experts out of the 200 previously agreed on were deployed from the African Union in Burundi, we call upon the Government of Burundi to ensure the full implementation of the resolution without delay and to reconsider its position regarding the deployment of the police component. We consider sanctions to be an effective enforcement tool and fully support the Council’s intention to pursue targeted measures against all actors that threaten peace and security in Burundi. At the same time, Ukraine is convinced that the peaceful resolution of the Burundian crisis will be possible only through an inclusive political dialogue. We would like also to emphasize the need to strengthen coordination between all relevant international and regional stakeholders so as to find solutions to stabilize the situation in Burundi.

New Zealand voted in favour of resolution 2303 (2016). The situation in Burundi and the risk of further escalation continues to be of major concern to New Zealand. The resolution meets our expectations for a credible and appropriate response. We would stress that the resolution is not the end of the process but a small milestone in efforts to restore peace and stability. Achieving this must take place in the context of efforts to achieve a political solution, with a significant role for the region and supporting a genuine incredible inter-Burundian dialogue.

The Russian Federation’s firm stance is that international and regional efforts with regard to Burundi will be successful only if they are taken in strict respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. Resolution 2303 (2016) must be implemented in cooperation, coordination and consultation with the legitimate Government of Burundi, within frameworks agreed with it, and fostering a mutually beneficial dialogue. The activities of the United Nations should be based on these fundamental criteria. We are convinced that our position will be fully taken into account by Mr. Benomar, the Special Envoy of the Secretary- General, whom we fully endorse.

The representative of China has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

The position of China on resolution 2303 (2016), which has just been adopted, is quite clear. Our starting point is the fact that the fundamental interests of the Government and the people of Burundi and those of the Governments and people of the African continent as a whole should be protected. The Council is an important organ of the United Nations system. We need to have a responsible attitude towards the people of Burundi, and the Council should be cautious in dealing with these extremely important matters. The Security Council, during its discussions, must take an inclusive approach and take into account the views of the international community. As we see it, the positions of other countries should not be distorted in this Chamber. To do so is inappropriate and irresponsible; it certainly does not contribute to the common efforts of the Council to help the people and the Government of Burundi to resolve their problems.

The representative of the United States has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

I thank the representative of China for his response, which is probably to my comments. I think that one of the things that the Chinese Ambassador appealed for was a cautious approach, and I just want to say that I think that it is very safe to say, a year and a half into the crisis, that the Council has succeeded in taking a cautious approach. We have yet to do anything to materially affect the trajectory of the conflict. We have a very modest resolution before us today, resolution 2303 (2016), that luckily did go through but that we really need to unite behind. With our divisions, we are worse. We are worse at preserving international peace and security. This is not a resolution that the United States thought was a great resolution, and I know abstentions can feel as if one can just stay on the sidelines and make one’s principled position clear, but we have to unite on Burundi. Those same Burundian people that were just invoked are, I think, counting on us to be able to unite on something as modest as this.

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as representative of Japan. I would like to thank France for its leadership in preparing resolution 2303 (2016). Japan welcomes its adoption. Yesterday, during the open debate on peacebuilding in Africa (see S/PV.7550), we heard the representatives of many Member States express their concerns over the situation in Burundi. We must not allow Burundi’s hard- won progress to vanish after a decade of peacebuilding efforts. It is time for the Council to take concrete action. I believe that Council members are united in their commitment to supporting the political process in Burundi, in close cooperation with the African Union and the East African Community, in order to halt the violence and human rights violations and to prevent a further deterioration of the situation. Let me underscore one point. Japan believes that the deployment of the United Nations police component authorized under today’s resolution will help not only the Security Council to closely monitor the situation on the ground and deter any degradation of the situation, but also the Government of Burundi to rebuild mutual trust with its international partners. In that regard, Japan calls on all the Burundian parties to extend their full cooperation to the United Nations, including the United Nations police component. Japan, as a long-term development partner of Burundi, sincerely hopes that Burundi will find a way forward out of the current crisis and chart a renewed course towards stability and prosperity in the near future. I now resume my functions as President of the Security Council. The representative of Egypt has asked to make a further statement.

I should like to make the following clarification. As I said in my explanation of vote, resolution 2303 (2016) does not refer to the African Union’s monitors. My delegation had proposed including such a reference in the draft, but one of the penholders objected to its inclusion.

The representative of the United States has asked to make a further statement.

I do not wish to try people’s patience on a Friday evening, so I shall be brief. The point I wished to make in my explanation of vote was that when the African Union (AU) came together, as it did usefully to propose the deployment of 200 monitors a year and two months prior to the negotiation of a resolution by the Security Council, and when only 36 of those 200 monitors have been deployed and none has been able to exercise the mandate that was given to them by the African Union, that is worthy of comment here at the United Nations as we seek to support our African brothers and sisters. A reference to the AU, without making note of what that AU mission has become, would have seemed to be divorced from reality.

Before adjourning the meeting, as this is the last scheduled meeting of the Council for the month of July, I would like to express the sincere appreciation of the delegation of Japan to the members of the Council, especially my colleagues the Permanent Representatives and their respective staffs, and the Secretariat of the Council for all the support they have given to us. Indeed, it has been a busy month and one in which we rallied to consensus on several important issues within our purview. We could not have done it alone or without the hard work, support and positive contributions of every delegation and the representatives of the Secretariat, as well as the interpreters, sound technicians, security staff and other relevant conference service officers. As we end our presidency, I know I speak on behalf of the Council in wishing the delegation of Malaysia all the best in the month of August.