UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he was closely following the situation in Mali and welcomed responding to Mali's urgent request.
A statement by the spokesperson for the UN SG said, "The Secretary-General is closely following the situation in Mali. He spoke on Saturday with the President of Cote d'Ivoire and Chair of ECOWAS, Mr. Alassane Ouattara, who briefed him on the upcoming ECOWAS summit planned for 19 January in Abuja and the plans of several of its member states to deploy military forces. The Secretary-General spoke with the Foreign Minister of France, Mr. Laurent Fabius, who informed him on the ongoing French military operations in support of Mali's urgent request."
"The Secretary-General welcomes that bilateral partners are responding, at the request and with the consent of the government of Mali, to its call for assistance to counter the troubling push southward by armed and terrorist groups. Countries with capabilities to assist Mali are now providing assistance. The Secretary-General hopes these actions will help to arrest the latest offensive while efforts continue to fully implement Security Council Resolution 2085 (2012) aimed at the full restoration of Mali's constitutional order and territorial integrity," the statement said.
"These latest events underscore the urgency of implementing all aspects of the resolution, including support to ECOWAS mediation efforts, the development of a consensual roadmap for the transition and provision of support to AFISMA and the Malian defence forces," it said.
Meanwhile, France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said his country decided that the existence of the state of Mali and, beyond Mali, the stability of all West Africa were at stake. "With determination but also with reluctance we decided that we had no other choice but to launch this military intervention. We will conduct it as long as it will be necessary," he said.
UN asks Israel to cancel settlement plan
Ban Ki-Moon asked Israel to cancel its settlement plan called E1.
Ban said that Israel's building a settlement unit in West Bank was illegal according to international laws.
Ban, in his earlier statements, expressed disappointment about the settlement plans of Israel.
In the weekend, hundreds of Palestinians protested the construction of new Israeli settlement units in the east of Jerusalem. Protestors set up 30 tents in "E1" zone in order to protest illegal Jewish settlements in 3,000 residences to be built by Israel. Nearly 500 Israeli soldiers raided the tents, and detained some of the protestors.
After Palestine gained non-member observer status in the UN, Israel, as a reaction, decided to build 3,000 illegal residences in East Jerusalem.
