United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa

Holds Ministerial Meeting, N’Djamena, Chad, 9 to 13 November

NEW YORK, 6 November (Office for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa will hold its twenty-ninth ministerial meeting in N’Djamena, Chad, from 9 to 13 November.  Succeeding Gabon, Chad will assume the presidency of the Committee for its twenty‑ninth meeting.

Established by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 28 May 1992 pursuant to General Assembly resolution 46/37 B, the Standing Advisory Committee’s primary objective is to promote peace and security in Central Africa through confidence-building measures, in particular disarmament and arms limitation.

The Committee is composed of the following 11 Member States: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Chad.

The twenty-ninth ministerial meeting will review latest developments of the geopolitical and security situation in the subregion, and discuss issues related to crime in Central Africa, including maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as promote disarmament and arms limitation activities in Central Africa.

The meeting will review a draft regional legal instrument in Central Africa for the control of small arms and light weapons, their ammunition, and all equipment that could be used for their manufacture, as well as elements of the instrument’s Action Plan, a concrete action in implementing the Sao Tome Initiative adopted by the ministerial meeting in May 2007.  The participants will also discuss the contribution of women to peace and security in Central Africa, on the basis of Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1889 (2009), as well as resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) on sexual violence in armed conflict.

Ministers accompanied by high-level civil servants and military officials from the 11 Member States will attend the twenty-ninth ministerial meeting.  Several international, regional and subregional organizations, including the Economic Community of Central African States, the International Organization of la Francophonie, the Executive Secretariat of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, as well as the United Nations Subregional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, and the missions and offices of the United Nations in the subregion (United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA), United Nations Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA)) will attend as observers.

For more information, please contact the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa; Tel: +228 253 50 00; Fax: +228 250 43 15; e‑mail: mail@unrec.org.

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For information media • not an official record