SECRETARY-GENERAL ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST FUND TO PROMOTE CONFIDENCE-BUILDING IN CENTRAL AFRICA
Press Release
SG/SM/5942
SECRETARY-GENERAL ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST FUND TO PROMOTE CONFIDENCE-BUILDING IN CENTRAL AFRICA
19960329 Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has announced the establishment of a trust fund to finance activities aimed at promoting confidence-building measures and preventing further armed conflicts in one of Africa's most turbulent subregions. Known formally as the Trust Fund for the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, it was set up at the request of the General Assembly, under its resolution 50/71/B of 12 December 1995, to raise additional resources on a voluntary basis for the implementation of the programme of work of the Committee.The Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa was established by the Secretary-General in May 1992 in response to General Assembly resolution 46/37/B of 6 December 1991. Its purpose is to promote confidence-building measures, arm restraint and disarmament in the subregion. The 11 members of the Committee are Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Zaire.
Members of the Committee have decided to establish units specializing in peace operations within their respective armed forces and to participate in such operations within the framework either of the United Nations or the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The General Assembly has welcomed the decision and called for voluntary contributions to finance training programmes for the peace units.
The Trust Fund will also be used to support efforts by the Committee to control the illicit transfer and proliferation of small arms in the subregion, to promote arms restraint and transparency in military acquisitions through the establishment of a subregional register of conventional armaments, to foster inter-State cooperation on security matters and to contribute to the peaceful resolution of existing conflicts in the subregion, in particular those in Angola and in the countries of the Great Lakes area.
Ministers of Defence and/or Foreign Affairs of the 11 Member States of the Committee are scheduled to meet in Yaounde, Cameroon, from 18 to 19 April to review the geo-political and security situation in the subregion and to prepare for a summit conference of their heads of State and government, which is also expected to take place in Yaounde, in July. A key item on the summit
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agenda will be the formal signature of the Non-Aggression Pact, designed to prevent inter-State conflict and contribute to confidence-building in the subregion.
The Secretary of the Committee is Sammy Kum Buo, a Senior Political Affairs Officer in the Centre for Disarmament Affairs, Department of Political Affairs.
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