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Security Council extends UN force in Golan Heights for further six months

UNDOF peacekeepers on patrol in the Golan Heights.
UN Photo/Gernot Payer
UNDOF peacekeepers on patrol in the Golan Heights.

Security Council extends UN force in Golan Heights for further six months

The Security Council today extended for another six months the mandate of the United Nations force in the Golan Heights that has been tasked with supervising the disengagement accord between Syrian and Israeli forces after their 1973 war.

The Council, in a unanimously adopted resolution, renewed the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) until 30 December 2009.

In his recent report on the Force, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the situation in the Golan Heights has remained generally quiet.

“Nevertheless, the situation in the Middle East is tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can be reached,” he added.

Therefore, he considered the continued presence of UNDOF in the area to be “essential.”