STATEMENT BY AD HOC ADVISORY GROUP ON GUINEA-BISSAU

 

OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OF UNITED NATIONS

 

NEW YORK, 11 October (DESA) -- The Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau of the Economic and Social Council calls on the International Community to continue to support Guinea-Bissau.

The members of the Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau met in an extraordinary session on 8 October 2004 to review recent events in Guinea-Bissau.  The Group was informed that elements of the Armed Forces, who had previously served with the United Nations Mission in Liberia, led a revolt over salary arrears, poor conditions in their barracks and other aspects of conditions of service.  The Group expressed deep regret over the tragic incident on 6 October 2004 that led to the killing of General Verissimo Correia Seabra, Chief of the Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel Domingos de Barros, Head of Human Resources of the Armed Forces and others.

The Advisory Group  paid respect to the important contribution made by General Seabra to Guinea-Bissau and the role he played in ensuring a return to constitutional order after the resignation of former President Kumba Yala on 17 September 2003.

The Advisory Group calls on the Government of Guinea-Bissau to initiate a thorough investigation into all the events that occurred in the course of the mutiny.

The Advisory Group is encouraged by the efforts of Interim President Henrique Pereira Rosa and Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior to initiate a genuine dialogue with the “parties” involved and noted the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Government and the representatives of the dissident soldiers.

The Advisory Group also welcomed the contributions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), as well as the Statement made by the Security Council on 7 October 2004 in which it called, among other things, for the international community to maintain confidence in the process of democratic consolidation and for continued support for development in that country.

The Advisory Group remains confident in its assessment made in July 2004 that Guinea-Bissau is moving in the right direction.  For this reason, the Group calls on the partners of Guinea-Bissau and the donor community as a whole to assist with short-term budgetary support to meet salary arrears for civil servants and the Armed Forces.  In this context, the Group also called for contributions to the currently depleted Emergency Economic Management Fund, managed by the United Nations Development Programme, which has helped the Government by partially funding its emergency budget for fiscal year 2004.  The Fund, which was established upon the recommendation of the Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau, is an efficient and transparent vehicle for donors to pool resources and coordinate their short-term support to the country.  Since its establishment, the Fund has assisted the Government in paying four months of salary arrears to civil servants.

The Group also reiterated its call made in July 2004 for urgent and immediate assistance for the restructuring of the Armed Forces with a view to the professionalization of the Army.

The Advisory Group renewed its call for wide and generous participation in the upcoming Donors Roundtable for Guinea-Bissau to be held on 15 December 2004.  The Group strongly believes that with the new rigour in public administration and finance, Guinea-Bissau is ready to receive significant official development assistance for its medium- to long-term reconstruction and development.  The Group also called on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to continue to play a constructive role in assisting the Government of Guinea-Bissau.

The ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group was formed in 2002 and is composed of the Permanent Representatives of Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, the Netherlands, Portugal, under the Chairmanship of the Permanent Representative of South Africa.  The President of ECOSOC, the Chairman of the Group of Friends of Guinea-Bissau and the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Security Council on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, take part in the work of the Group.  The mandate of the Group is to examine the humanitarian and economic needs of Guinea-Bissau, review relevant assistance programmes, prepare recommendations for a long-term programme of support and provide advice on how to ensure that assistance by the international community in support of Guinea-Bissau is adequate, coherent, well coordinated, effective and promotes synergy.  The ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group receives support from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, the United Nations Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

* *** *