WASHINGTON: The UN Security Council, at a meeting presided over by President Barack Obama, unanimously adopted a resolution on Wednesday, calling for a crackdown on the flow of foreign fighters to militant organisations such as ISIS.

The council voted 15-0 to compel countries to make it a crime for their citizens to travel abroad to fight with militants or recruit other people to do it.

President Obama is the only American president to chair a Security Council mee­ting. He also did so in 2009.

“Resolutions alone will not be enough. Promises on paper can’t keep us safe,” Mr Obama said. “Lofty rhetoric and good intentions will not stop a single terrorist attack. The words spoken here today must be matched and translated into action, into deeds.”

As representatives from the Security Council government took their turns speaking, President Francois Hollande of France made mention of a countryman who was beheaded by an Al Qaeda splinter group.

France has faced terrorism before, Mr Hollande said, and “we have never given in. Every time, we come out of these things more robust with solidarity”.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2014