ADVISORY GROUP MEETING OF PROGRAMME FOR C0ORDINATION AND ASSISTANCE ON SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT TO BE HELD IN TOGO FROM 22-23 NOVEMBER

Press Release
DC/2670

ADVISORY GROUP MEETING OF PROGRAMME FOR C0ORDINATION AND ASSISTANCE ON SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT TO BE HELD IN TOGO FROM 22-23 NOVEMBER

LOME, 22 November (Department of Disarmament Affairs) -- The second biennial Advisory Group Meeting of the Programme for Coordination and Assistance on Security and Development (PCASED), the mechanism charged with assisting in the implementation of the Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons in West Africa, will be held in Lomé, Togo, on 22 and 23 November.

As provided by its terms of reference, the Advisory Group meets once every semester to evaluate progress with the implementation of PCASED and to adopt its programme of activities for the next six months.

The first such meeting was held in Bamako, Mali, on 24 and 25 March, alongside the meeting of Experts and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which adopted the draft Code of Conduct and the PCASED Plan of Action for implementing the Moratorium. The Plan identifies nine priority areas of activity for PCASED:

-- establishing a culture of peace; -- training programmes for the military, security and police forces; -- enhancing weapons control at border posts; -- establishment of a database and regional arms register; -- collection and destruction of surplus and unauthorized weapons; -- facilitating dialogue with producers and suppliers; -- review and harmonization of national legislation and administrative procedures; -- mobilizing resources for PCASED objectives and activities; -- enlarging membership of the Moratorium.

The Lomé Advisory Group meeting will examine the report of the Director of PCASED, also Director of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, on progress achieved in the attainment of the goals of PCASED for each of these nine priority items, and for the overall goal of consolidating the institutions responsible for the implementation of the Moratorium.

Advisory Group members will study and adopt a proposed programme of work for PCASED for the semester January 2000 to June 2000, besides effecting an evaluation of the first year of implementation of the Moratorium (November 1998 to November 1999).

- 2 - Press Release DC/2670 22 November 1999

Executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), PCASED is a five-year regional project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) operating within the framework of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, based in Lomé. The meeting, to be attended by Resident Representatives of UNDP and Coordinators of the United Nations system in the 16 West African States signatories to the Moratorium, shall be addressed, among others, by UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director UNDP-Africa, Thelma Awori, and the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Lansana Kouyaté.

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