HIGH-LEVEL CONSULTATION ON PEACE-BUILDING IN WEST AFRICA TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS 21 OCTOBER
Press Release
DC/2562
DEV/2121
HIGH-LEVEL CONSULTATION ON PEACE-BUILDING IN WEST AFRICA TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS 21 OCTOBER
19961018 The high-level consultation on post-conflict peace-building in West Africa will take place at Headquarters at 9:30 a.m., 21 October, in Conference Room 6. Organized by the United Nations Department of Political Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, consultation will allow the exchange of views and information on international support for post- conflict peace-building in West Africa, in order to lay the foundation for sustainable development in crisis and conflict-infested societies.The consultation draws on, among other things, the collaborative efforts of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme in the provision of support for peace consolidation and sustainable development in post-conflict situations. Such efforts are being deployed in Angola, in Sierra Leone and also in Mali, where a peace process has been under way following the peace agreement between the Government and the Mouvements et Fronts unifies de l'Azaouad (MFUA).
In Mali, United Nations/United Nations Development Programme support for conflict resolution and peace-building has included: the promotion of micro- disarmament in the context of the Secretary-General's Advisory Mission on the Proliferation of Light Weapons in the Sahel-Sahara subregion; the mobilization of resources and coordination of donor support; the demobilization and socio- economic reintegration of ex-combatants; and the organization of the politically symbolic "Flame of Peace" ceremony at which about 3,000 weapons surrendered by the ex-combatants were publicly set on fire. That confidence- building event enhanced political and social reconciliation, while at the same time the leaders of the MFUA proclaimed the dissolution of their movement and the formal ending of the rebellion.
The following Member States and institutions have been invited to participate at a senior level: Austria, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Denmark, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, United Kingdom, United States, the African Development Bank, the European Commission, the Europe Union, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Bank, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the World Bank.
* *** *