Security Council calls for aid to Guinea-Bissau as transitional phase ends

The Security Council today called on the international community to provide aid to Guinea-Bissau during its "delicate post-electoral phase" as the West African country emerges from several periods of instability during its 30 years of independence from Portugal.

In a press statement, Ambassador Bayani Mercado of the Philippines, which holds the Council presidency for the month of September, said the Representative of the Secretary-General for Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Honwana, briefed Council members on developments in the country, particularly since the results of the presidential elections were announced in August.

"Members of the Security Council underscored that Guinea-Bissau will enter now a delicate post-electoral phase and will need further international assistance to meet its multiple short-term and long-term political and economic challenges," the statement said.

They commended all those in Guinea-Bissau who were involved in the transitional political phase, including Transitional President Henrique Pereira Rosa, as well as the country's international partners, for their contribution to the peaceful conclusion of the transitional period.

It will be formally terminated with the inauguration on 1 October of the President-elect João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira as the new President of the Republic, the statement said.

The Security Council also stressed the need for the international community's active participation in the forthcoming donors' round table, scheduled to take place in November.