Dakar, 2 May, 2012 ‐ The Heads of the United Nations (UN) Peace Missions in West Africa held their twenty‐third high‐level consultation in Dakar to review the progress in the coordination of the action of the UN in promoting stability in the sub‐region.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Said Djinnit, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) for West Africa (UNOWA). Mr. Albert Gérard Koenders, SRSG for Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and Mr. Joseph Mutaboba, SRSG for Guinea‐Bissau (UNIOGBIS) as well as Louis Aucoin, Deputy SRSG for Liberia (UNMIL) and Nega Berhanemeskel, Acting Head of Mission for Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) also participated. The Heads of Mission congratulated Ms. Karin Landgren on her recent appointment as SRSG for Liberia.
The Heads of Missions in West Africa, exchanged views on a number of challenges affecting the stability of the sub‐region, and ongoing initiatives to address them, with particular focus on the situation in the Sahel Region, the piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, including through the West Africa Coast Initiative (WACI). They stressed the need for regional and international organizations to strengthen their collaboration and coordinate their initiatives to address these threats to peace and security in the sub‐region, in particular in Mali and Guinea‐Bissau. They further reiterated their commitment to support the new leadership of ECOWAS, as well as the leadership of the Mano River Union (MRU), in their efforts to address the main challenges to stability in the sub‐region.