UN Security Council Extends Mandate of Peacekeeping Force in Guinea-Bissau, Aiming to End in 2020 (February 28, 2019) [1]
On February 28, 2019, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2458 [3] (2019), in which it extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) until February 8, 2020, and endorsed the Secretary-General’s recommendations for its reconfiguration with the aim of completing its tasks by the end of 2020. The Council supported a reprioritization of UNIOGBIS’s tasks into three phases, so that in Phase I, the electoral phase, it will remain as configured and support legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2019; in Phase II, the post-electoral phase, it will create conditions to implement the reform agenda; and in Phase III, the transition phase, it will implement the transition plan and transfer its work to the UN Country Team, the United Nations Office for West Africa and Sahel, and international partners, to be completed by December 31, 2020. The Council highlighted the need for stakeholders in Guinea-Bissau to consolidate peace and stability, urged the authorities of Guinea-Bissau to promote and protect human rights, and called upon national authorities to expedite the review of Guinea-Bissau’s Constitution.