Sierra Leone can set example for other countries, says UN envoy

The United Nations envoy to Sierra Leone said today that the peaceful resolution of recent violence in the West African nation could set an example for other countries.

Michael von der Schulenburg, the Secretary-General’s Executive Representative for the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL), praised an agreement signed by the Government and the opposition on 2 April to end violence that had flared up in March.

“I think the Joint Communiqué is of great significance for the country and may be an example for other countries which go through similar periods… on how to intervene very quickly to stop the violence,” he told reporters at a press briefing in New York.

The presence of eight ambassadors during talks between the two sides “undoubtedly had an influence on the outcome,” Mr. von der Schulenburg noted.

He said he had told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a meeting earlier in the day that “Sierra Leone is a country where multilateralism has worked.”

Outbreaks of violence happen in many countries, the Representative said, “especially in post-conflict situations when the peace dividend in the form of employment or improved conditions fails to immediately materialize.”

He added that “what often goes wrong in these countries in reaction to the violence is that it becomes very emotional; it becomes ethnic based, regional based,” with divisions becoming more difficult to breach.

In contrast, Mr. von der Schulenburg said, Sierra Leone’s leadership was able to come together and sign the agreement. Further, it was joined by other parties and political groups, making it a national commitment.

He also singled out for praise a joint strategy called the “UN Family’s Joint Vision for Sierra Leone,” which brings together UNIPSIL and all 17 UN development and humanitarian agencies, programmes and funds operating in Sierra Leone.

Yesterday, Mr. van der Schulenburg briefed the Security Council on UNIPSIL’s work, estimating that a budget for the period ending in 2012 would be $350 million.

The Council authorized the creation of UNIPSIL last year to replace the UN political office in Sierra Leone, known as UNIOSIL, in a unanimously adopted resolution, which also gave the new structure an initial mandate of 12 months.

UNIPSIL, which works closely with the UN Peacebuilding Commission, is tasked with providing political support to national and local efforts for identifying and resolving tensions and threats of potential conflict, whatever the source. It also monitors and promotes human rights, democratic institutions and the rule of law, including efforts to counter transnational organized crime and drug trafficking.

Sierra Leone, whose brutal 11-year civil war ended in 2002, is one of the first two countries, along with Burundi, to receive support from the Commission, established in 2005 to help post-conflict countries determine the priority areas for rebuilding out of the vast array of challenges they face.