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UN mission to Central Africa seeks to bolster cooperation with region’s countries

UN mission to Central Africa seeks to bolster cooperation with region’s countries

A senior United Nations official is set to lead a two-week inter-agency evaluation mission to Central Africa this weekend as part of the Security Council’s efforts to help strengthen cooperation between the UN system and countries in the region.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Tuliameni Kalomoh will head the mission, which is scheduled to start on Sunday and last for about two weeks. The delegation will comprise representatives of various departments and agencies of the UN system, and is expected to visit the 11 countries belonging to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

It is also entrusted with determining the measures to be taken for the implementation of a “comprehensive, integrated, resolute and concerted approach to the issues of peace, security and development” in the subregion.

The Council itself is sending a mission to the region, slated to depart tomorrow under the leadership of Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sablière of France. The full Council membership will participate in that delegation, with a primary goal of emphasizing that all parties in the wider Great Lakes region must continue pressing for peace – particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In October, a Council Presidential statement affirmed the need to bolster the capability of the subregion, which, despite its enormous potential, had yet to achieve the stability that would enable it to maximize its contribution to the African continent as a whole. In April, the Council reaffirmed the importance of a comprehensive, “global approach,” aimed at addressing such issues as the inadequacy of institutional and human capacities, which have hindered the social, economic and political integration in Central Africa for so long.