UN missions tighten cooperation in West Africa

United Nations peacekeeping and political missions in West Africa have agreed to improve the exchange of information and tighten operational activities in the region. The move came at a meeting of heads of peacekeeping missions in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, on Friday, and follows concern expressed by the UN Security Council about the need for an effective contingency plan for preventing cross-border movements of foreign combatants and the need for more harmonisation between missions in areas of mutual concern. According to the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL, which hosted the meeting, the Heads of Missions held detailed discussions on issues like the cross-border movement of combatants, the flow of small arms and the movement of natural resources. They agreed to set up a mechanism to facilitate a free flow of information between missions and also to improve operational coordination, running joint border patrols and screening persons and goods in cooperation with legitimate national security forces in the host countries where they are working. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, reviewed the overall situation in the sub-region while the respective SRSGs for the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire (MINUCI) Jacques Klein and Albert Tevoedjre talked about the situations in their areas of operation. The Officer-in-Charge of UNAMSIL, Alan Doss, gave an update on Sierra Leone and the Representative of the Secretary-General (RSG) in Guinea-Bissau David Stephen gave a briefing on developments in Guinea-Bissau. The current situation in Guinea-Conakry was also discussed. A follow-up meeting is scheduled to take place in Dakar in February 2004. In a report early this month, the Brussels-based think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), said that the UN had had a considerable opportunity to drive events and take control of the insecurity in the sub-region with its three peacekeeping missions along the West African coast in Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and now Liberia. The starting point should be disarmament of fighters in Liberia, the ICG said, while urging the UN to develop an integrated approach with the three missions. The ICG emphasised that regional stability depended largely on stopping the flow of marauding fighters who migrate from conflict to conflict.