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Security Council urges Guinea-Bissau's leaders to persist on peace path

Security Council urges Guinea-Bissau's leaders to persist on peace path

Council President Yáñez-Barnuevo
The political leaders, public institutions and authorities in the troubled West African nation of Guinea-Bissau must persevere with the peace process beyond next year's scheduled presidential polls if they want to reap all the benefits, the President of the Security Council said today.

Speaking to reporters after the Council met to discuss the situation in Guinea-Bissau, Ambassador Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo of Spain, which holds the Council's rotating presidency for this month, said the Council's 15 members were encouraged by recent developments.

Presidential elections scheduled for next year are still on schedule, he said, and will be run with the help of United Nations officials. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is also running a series of projects to help stimulate economic growth.

Mr. Yáñez-Barnuevo said a donors' conference to be held before the end of this year should boost efforts to promote stability in Guinea-Bissau, which has plagued by both formal conflict and long-running political and social tensions during its post-independence history.

"We encourage [the authorities] to persevere…on what is a good example of what can be done in a peace process in a post-conflict situation," he said.

Earlier, Assistant Secretary-General Tuliameni Kalomoh briefed the Council on the work of the UN Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), which has been helping the nation stabilize since March 1999.