UN ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON CENTRAL AFRICA SECURITY QUESTIONS

TO MEET IN BANGUI, 26-30 AUGUST

NEW YORK, 19 August (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa will be holding its eighteenth ministerial meeting from 26 to 30 August, in Bangui, the Central African Republic. 

Among other things, the Committee will review the current geopolitical and security situation in the central African region, with particular emphasis on Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, with a view to determining how best the Committee could contribute to unfolding international efforts to securing lasting peace and tranquillity in these countries.  It will also look into ways and means of strengthening various structures created over the years, under its auspices, with a view to rendering them responsive to the various challenges confronting the region. 

As this is its last ministerial meeting of the year, the Committee will elect a new Bureau, for a period of one year.  Currently, its Bureau is constituted as follows:  President: the Democratic Republic of the Congo; First Vice-President: the Central African Republic; Second Vice-President: Equatorial Guinea; and Rapporteur: the Republic of Congo

The Committee, which is serviced by the Department for Disarmament Affairs, was established on 28 May 1992 in accordance with General Assembly resolution 46/37 B on regional confidence-building measures.  It is made up of the 11 member States of the Economic Community of the Central African States (ECCAS), namely, 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 (COPAX), 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. 

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