ECOSOC sets up ad hoc advisory group

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has set up an Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau. The group's mandate is to "build on a still-fragile peace and help prevent a relapse into conflict while building a long-term programme of support that addresses gaps between relief and development," the Council reported on Tuesday. It is due to leave for Guinea-Bissau on 8 November for a fact-finding visit. Guinea-Bissau "has faced numerous challenges arising from a prolonged war of liberation (1963-74) and an attempt to establish a centrally planned economy", ECOSOC noted. In 1998, an armed uprising displaced a third of the population before a peace agreement was signed on 1 November. However President Joao Bernardo Vieira was overthrown in May 1999. President Kumba Yala was elected in early 2000, but stability has proved elusive. "Tensions continue among contending political actors as well as the military," ECOSOC said. "Further exacerbating the situation is the difficulty of the government meeting even short-term social needs, the slow pace of demobilisation, sub-regional instability and the effects of drought." The ad hoc group "established at the request of an African country emerging from conflict, is a limited but flexible ambassadorial-level body to examine the humanitarian and economic needs of that country, to engage broad international support and facilitate coordinated action," the council explained. In Bissau it "will carry out consultations with government officials, civil society organizations, UN system organizations, donors and the Bretton Woods institutions". The ad hoc group include representatives of Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, the Netherlands, Portugal, The Gambia, Mauritius and ECOSOC President Ivan Simonovic of Croatia.