United Nations Security Council Resolution 1834 - 5981st Security Council Meeting

5981st Security Council Meeting

The 15 members of the United Nations Security Council convened at the United Nations headquarters in New York on September 24, 2008 to discuss extending the mandate on the mission to Chad and the Central African Republic, which was due to expire the next day. The meeting was called to order at 3:15 PM, with the President of the Security Council, Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso, introducing Ahmad Allam-Mi the representative of Chad who had been invited to sit in on the meeting. Members were given document S/2008/616, which contained the text of a draft resolution submitted by Belgium, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the United States of America. Members of the Council also were given document S/2008/601 and Addendum 1, which contained the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission on the Central African Republic and Chad.

The United Kingdom representative Sir John Sawers expressed their support for the resolution, though listed a few concerns. "But there is much work to be done before the Council can take a firm decision on a new peacekeeping mission," he said. "An expanded United Nations mission in Chad needs clear objectives, an achievable mandate, a sensible time frame for deployment, measurable benchmarks and a realistic end state that, once achieved, will enable the force to withdraw. We also question whether a force twice the size of EUFOR is needed." He also expressed reservation over a military presence in the Central African Republic, seeing no value to it, as well as calling for a 'disciplined and strategic approach to the management of scarce peacekeeping resources.'

The proceeding vote on the draft for the Resolution found all 15 members in favor, leading to the adoption of the draft resolution as Resolution 1834.