UN STANDING ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SECURITY QUESTIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA TO MEET FROM 16 TO 20 APRIL IN BUJUMBURA

                                                                  AFR/310                                                                       DC/2272

                                                                  11 April 2001

UN STANDING ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SECURITY QUESTIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA

TO MEET FROM 16 TO 20 APRIL IN BUJUMBURA

NEW YORK, 10 April (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa will be holding its fifteenth ministerial meeting from 16 to 20 April, in Bujumbura, Burundi.  The agenda of the meeting will include the current geopolitical and security situation in central Africa; inter-state cooperation in the area of peace and security; evaluation of the implementation of previous decisions and recommendations of the Committee; examination of the implementation of the recommendations of the Subregional Conference on the Proliferation of and Illicit Circulation of Small Arms in Central Africa, held in N’Djamena, Chad, from 25 to 27 October 1999; and the review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Subregional Conference on Refugees and Internally-Displaced Persons in Central Africa held in Bujumbura from 14 to 16 August 2000.

Established on 28 May 1992 in accordance with General Assembly resolution 46/37 B on regional confidence-building measures, the Committee is made up of the 11 member States of the Economic Community of the Central African States, (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe).  Its major goals are to develop confidence-building measures and to promote arms restraint and development in the central African subregion.  In this connection, it meets at least twice a year at the ministerial level and it also organizes conferences, seminars and workshops on various issues related to peace and security in the central African region.

Since its establishment, the Committee has adopted a number of important decisions such as the Non-Aggression Pact of 1996 and the Pact for Mutual Assistance of February 2000.  In addition, it has created a number of structures aimed at promoting peace and security in the central African region, such as the Council for Peace and Security, the Early-Warning Mechanism headquartered in Libreville, Gabon, the Subregional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, headquartered in Yaounde, Cameroon, and the Subregional Parliament headquartered in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. 

Currently the Bureau of the Committee is constituted as follows:  President: Burundi, First Vice-President:  the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Second

Vice-President: the Central African Republic and Rapporteur:  Equatorial Guinea.

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