UN Security Council reaffirms support for extension of UNMIS

The UN Security Council on Tuesday voiced their support to the extension of the mandate on the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), in particular to the mission's assistance in the recent Sudanese general elections.

"The Council agreed to continue to support activities of UMIS and take action of extension of mandate in next few days," Japanese UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for April, told reporters after a closed-door meeting on UNMIS.  

In the meeting, the UN secretary general's special representative for Sudan Haile Menkerios briefed the 15-nation Council on the work of UNMIS as well as on Monday's Sudanese elections. The UNMIS mandate expires on Friday.      

Menkerios explained the extensive election, and pointed out the "shortcomings" of general elections, Takasu said, but he did not elaborate.

The Sudanese elections on Monday came to an end with the announcement that the incumbent President Omar al-Bashir was elected for a new four-year term in office, while President of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Salva Kiir Mayardit won the post of president of south Sudan government.