SECURITY COUNCIL

By Joao Gabriel Frick

Day 1: A complete insight in what has happened in the first day of POSMUN at the Security Council

The first day at the Porto Seguro Model United Nations conference started with the opening ceremony, where the organizers of the MUN made some speeches, presenting the goals and intents if the three-day event. Then, the head delegates of each participating delegation made their opening speeches, presenting their objectives. At the security council, the first session initiated with an icebreaker, in which delegates got to know each other better. The chairs presented the schedule, a proposed organization for the sessions, some event policies, rules of procedure, documents, etc. After some more icebreakers, the committee proceeded to the mock debate, handling the topic “Friends x The Office”.

During the conference, the Security Council will handle the topic: “The war on Terror in Africa’s Sahel”. The Sahel is a range of 500 to 700 km wide, on average, and 5 1400 km long, between the Sahara Desert to the north and the Sudanese savannah to the south, and between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Red Sea to the east. It is an area of transition between the Ralegartic ecozone and the afro-tropical ecozone, between the aridity of the Sahara and the fertile of the Sudanese savannah, in the north-south sense. It's a phytogeographic region dominated by steppe vegetation, which receives precipitation between 150 and 300 mm per year. For being a band of transition, the region protects savannas from dry winds loaded with Sahara sand, due to its biodiversity. By this, the Sahel is of great importance to the Sub-Saharan countries, because without this natural shield, certainly the rest of the African continent would be another extension of the largest desert of the world.

According to the INTERPOL, The Sahel region has experienced a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets. Terrorist groups are present across borders and repeatedly target communities and national institutions through coordinated attacks, taking advantage of porous and extensive borders. It is essential to identify terrorists, their movements and means of action, in order to prevent and disrupt their activities.

In the beginning of the second session of the Security Council committee in the POSMUN conference, the delegations presented their opening speeches related to the topic: the war on terror in Africa’s Sahel. Considering what was said, the situation in the Sahel is catastrophic. The safety of the people who live in this region is at stake. Violence has been growing there very significantly. Throughout this time, some delegates presented very polemic points of view, such as the delegation of China, who said there might be corruption in these countries to handle with economic problems related to the discussed topic. The delegate representing the French Republic said its country has been helping the region in many ways, but the delegation of Burkina Faso contested this. One aspect that has divided the committee during the beginning of the session was the way countries who are located in the region of the Sahel have been fighting the terrorism. Many of them have been returning this concern with violence. While some delegations find themselves in favor of this, others are completely against. One of them is the delegation of the United States, who has actively questioned the delegates from African countries if they have any other forms of dealing with terrorism, none related to violence. Some other countries have also offered help to countries in the Sahel. Russia, for example, offered to make a deal with those, intended to end terrorism there. After many opening speeches and discussions related to specific topics, the delegates entered in a unmoderated caucus to discuss the agenda. The delegations of Burkina Faso and United States presented a agenda they built together to the committee. After some discussion and inclusion of desired topics, the delegations could vote on the agenda, and it passed.

During the three days of POSMUN, the delegations of the Security Council have attempted to discuss these topics:

At the third council session, the delegations started to discuss the topics listed in the agenda. The chosen topic was restrengthen diplomatic leadership in the Sahel. This was proposed by the delegate from the United States, who also proposed to be the new leader of the region. Delegations like Sudan took advantage of their time to enhance the existence of the G5-Sahel. It consists of an institutional group of five countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – for coordinating cooperation on regional development policies and security issues in Central Africa. Nowadays they face several issues, including the increased threat of terrorism.

The discussions in the third session focused themselves more in the point related to the leadership of the Sahel. Most delegations, such as China and Mauritania, stood beside others on the defense of the G5 maintaining this control position. The delegate of China also proposed the committee to proceed with the agenda, moving on to a topic related to which countries could help and how. The chairs then recommended the committee to start developing a working paper. In order to finish the discussion of the first topic, the delegates entered in an unmoderated caucus. It then leaded into the discussion of the first topic of the working paper, going through themes such as agreements, military related ones, and public safety. Happily, the delegates had enough time to start writing the working paper. The session, and the first day of POSMUN, then came to the end, postponing the discussion of further topics.

Day 2: Working papers, crisis, and more. This is all what happened at the second day of POSMUN at the Security Council

For the day’s first session, the delegates proceeded with disinvolving the working paper. They kept on questioning its other ideas and plans for the Sahel region. The delegation of Sudan started off questioning the north American delegation’s position, and if they want only to lead the region, or also to help. They then answered saying they want to help too. Handling this same theme, of help from other countries, the delegate of Mauritania also said that countries such as China, who are close to the Sahel, should help too, and not only European and ones who are far away. This should happen through agreements and deals. Until now, most delegates are making very remarkable speeches. Some of them, such as China, Mauritania, Sudan, United States, Chad, and United Kingdom have proposed topics who were discussed for a long time. The delegate of the United States of America stood their position, saying the leadership of the Sahel should be changed. Like yesterday, they proposed to be the leader. Some other countries, such as Russia, offered to co-lead the region. The topic of cooperation and helping the Sahel countries was furtherly discussed. Many countries presented diverse forms of how they can help. China, for example, proposed they could help through offering military assistance and to train the police. After some hours of discussion regarding the offers made by some countries, these were then merged into a series of clauses in the first working paper of the committee.

Even though the fourth council session had a slow rhythm, the delegates kept on presenting new ideas and topics for the first working paper. In the next sessions, the delegates should move more quickly with the elaboration and voting of the working paper, since there might be some surprises during the day. By the end of the session, the committee did not have time to vote the working paper. This shall be done in the next session.

Council session five started off with some final touches and edits that should be done in the working paper one. It was then read by the delegation of the United Kingdom, one of its main submitters. It was then voted and has passed. The delegations then proceeded with the agenda. By this time, the topic to be discussed was the economy from the Sahel region. Nowadays, it is mostly focused on the activities from the primary section, agriculture. But, in this location, there is a very big instability due to climate change. For this and other reasons, this topic is a matter of supreme importance. The delegation of Russia proposed the creation of agreements to collect natural resources from this region. Some of these, such as the oil from Mali, are very important to Russia. What hinders the existence of this agreement is the fact that those resources are being controlled by the terrorists. By that, it was thoroughly enhanced the necessity of fighting the terrorists first. The delegation of Mali intensified the necessity that Sahelian countries are going through, and that agreements such as the one proposed by the Russian delegate would be helpful. Though, reconstructing the economy from these countries will be a tough job, due to the terrorists present in the region and the COVID pandemic, who aggravated economies from the whole world. According to the delegation of Burkina Faso, economies from Sahel countries shall slowly recover throughout the years, but this should be instantly accelerated. After some discussions on the topic economy, the committee then entered in an unmoderated caucus to discuss the second working paper.

Amidst the discussion of the new working paper, many topics were brought up. One of the most discussed ones was the effects of agriculture on the nature and environment of Africa’s Sahel region. Delegates proposed the creation of a partnership with an environmental Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) located in the region. After 45 minutes of discussion, the second working paper was then presented and voted. For the luck of some, the working paper passed.

Social and security aspects of the Sahel region was the main topic of the fifth council session. It was determinated that all countries present should help other countries in the Sahel region in diverse ways. The delegation of Mauritania offered to shelter the refugees from these countries. The north American delegation also reinforced that humanitarian assistance should be offered by all countries. This happens because the country can’t give this assistance alone. For this reason, they proposed the establishment of an alliance between countries, so the help can be more even. Then, the crisis came:

The delegates should now rush to solve this crisis as soon as possible, since the lives of country leaders are in stake. One of the most discussed suggestions were agreements and use of military force. This aspect has divided the committee. While some supported the use of military, others wanted to do this in a peaceful and unharmful way. Ideas of peace and calm were proposed by delegations such as the United States of America, which is controversial due to their complicated history with combating terrorism. But, most importantly, these leaders and terrorists should be first located. Unfortunately, the delegates don’t have any clues related to where they are. Reallocate civilians should be done secondly. A Suggestion for the solving of this problem were the use of FBI to locate the terrorists. This was supported by many delegates in the committee such as Sudan, who said information should be gathered first, then action should be done. Delegates asked for a form to communicate with the terrorists, but that wasn’t provided. The delegates started working on a resolution for the crisis. The topic of establishing a new leadership for the Sahel region was discussed, again. But, this time, the committee agreed the control should stay in the hands of the G5 countries. Others should only help financially and by offering other needs from the countries. By the end, the committee could solve the crisis in a very pacific and strategic form. The delegations agreed on focusing to help the countries to succeed and find their leaders at all times. Thankfully, everything was dealt at the correct and projected timing.

After the successful conclusion of the crisis, the seventh council session started with the discussion of the third topic of the agenda. As said before, it surrounds social aspects and security related themes. To accelerate the elaboration of the working paper, the delegates entered in an unmoderated caucus. During the debate, aspects as schools and education, and information were thoroughly discussed. The delegations of China and United States of America offered to donate technological devices to these countries. The committee also enhanced the need of information to the inhabitants from the Sahel. They need to be aware of what happens in their country. Nowadays, some countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso have newspapers circulating in the area. Unfortunately, due to the control from the terrorists, these newspapers do not circulate correctly there. The delegations also enhanced the need to help disinvolve healthcare systems in the Sahel region. Although the delegation of Russia has repeatedly said they would help in everything they could, this would happen only for a short term. Unfortunately, the committee could not finish the third working paper, but happily this shall be done by tomorrow.

Day 3: Decisions to end the war in Africa’s Sahel

The delegations in Security Council developed a draft resolution to end terror in Africa’s Sahel.

As yesterday, the seventh council session at the Security Council from POSMUN, the delegates used of the first thirty minutes to debate the third working paper with no moderation. One of the most important topics discussed was the reallocation from the inhabitants from the Sahel region to shelters, retrieve their jobs, and rebuild their health system for better. The delegations also suggested the use of humanitarian organizations, such as “Doctors without borders”. Another postulated aspect was new homes for the refugees. While some countries defended the creation of public shelters, others were in favor of sending them to European countries, since they are one of the most open countries for refugees. If they were to go to Europe, the delegates also discussed if this should be a long- or short-term decision, meaning if they should stay there forever or return after a period of time. Remembering the aspect of the safety of the refugees’ return, the committee decided to build shelters for them in their countries. After fifty-five minutes of unmoderated caucus, the third working paper was then presented by the delegations of the United Kingdom and China. The document was then voted, and it passed.

After the voting, the committee started working on a draft resolution. Discussions on the documents main submitters were long. Both delegations of the United Kingdom and United States of America claim more importance in the committee. Unfortunately, the delegates couldn’t finish the resolution in time to vote it, making this part to be postponed to the next session.

Today’s and POSMUN’s last council session started off with an unmoderated caucus to discuss last details and finishing touches of the draft resolution. Delegates spent a lot of time writing amendments for the draft resolution. This happened because this type of document needs to be agreeable to all. After lots of thinking, some amendments were voted and added to the document. The resolution was then presented by the delegations of Mauritania, Russia, and United Kingdom. Throughout the document, important aspects were enhanced, such as:

Creation of military programs, paying attention to recruit only qualified soldiers, not innocent victims;
The leadership shall stay with the G5-Sahel group
Invest in different economical areas;
Workers’ rights;
Establishment of partnerships with environmental organizations;
Assist educational sector;
Listen to the victims of terrorism there;
Reintegrate ex-soldiers and refugees into society correctly;
Demilitarization after terrorism is ended;
Supply the population;
Construction of shelters and refugee camps;
Develop a single aid program for the Sahel;
Remain seized upon the matter.

The draft resolution was then voted by the committee. Prosperously, it was accepted, with no votes against it. The debate was then closed, concluding all nine council sessions. The delegates also could vote in the so called “deleawards”, and the winners were:

Delegato: Chair Henrique
Delegata: Mauritania and UK
Deleghost: Algeria
Delestyle: Chair Andre
Delehair: Chair Andre
Delefofo: Chad
Delenemo: Algeria
Delesmart: Mauritania
Most likely to become a dictator: Russia
Most likely to work at the UN: Mauritania

The committee session then ended with all delegations and chairs thanking for the opportunity to participate.