Security Council extends UN's Israel-Syria disengagement force

The United Nations Security Council today extended, through December, the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force known as UNDOF, which was established in 1974 to monitor the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

By a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council also called on the parties concerned to implement immediately the Council's milestone resolution 338 of October 1973.

The Council requested Secretary-General Kofi Annan to submit, by the end of the renewal period on 31 December, a report "on the developments in the situation and the measures taken to implement" the 338 resolution, which, in part, called upon the parties to start immediately implementing another landmark Council decision - resolution 242 of 1967 - and resolved that "negotiations shall start between the parties concerned under appropriate auspices aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East."

The Council took its action after considering a recent report by the Secretary-General, which notes that "the situation in the Middle East is very tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can be reached."

In a presidential statement read out in an open meeting after the adoption of the resolution today, the Security Council said that Mr. Annan's conclusion "reflects the view of the Council."

In the past, the Security Council has renewed UNDOF's mandate for successive six-month periods, setting it on a May-November cycle. By extending the mandate for seven months this time, the Council sought to align the mission to a June-December cycle in order to synchronize it with the UN budgetary process, according to officials with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.