West Africa / Heads of UN peace missions in West Africa meet in Dakar 13-14 June 2008
DAKAR, Sénégal, June 12, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- A high-level meeting of Heads of UN peace missions in West Africa will be held in Dakar on 13 and 14 June 2008. The meeting will be chaired by Mr. Said Djinnit of the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA). Mr. Y.J. Choi of the UN mission in Cote d’Ivoire, Ms. Margrethe Løj of the UN mission in Liberia and Mr. Shola Omoregie of the UN support office for peace consolidation in Guinea-Bissau will participate.
The high-level meeting, which aims at furthering progress in harmonizing policies and activities of the UN presences in West Africa, will review the overall situation in the subregion and discuss specific cross-border issues of regional interest.
The first high-level meeting of UN missions in West Africa was held in November 2003 in Freetown, Sierra Leone at which Heads of missions agreed to maintain a regular mechanism of consultation. Welcoming this initiative, the members of the UN Security Council have called for UN presences in West Africa to take concrete steps towards the implementation of a regional approach, including pulling together UN assets across the region and exploiting synergies between the missions to achieve greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This meeting is the thirteenth of its kind.
The meeting will be followed by a press conference at the Hotel Meridien President at 11:00 to which all media are invited.
SOURCE : UNITED NATIONS
