SEVENTH HIGH LEVEL MEETING OF HEADS OF UN PEACE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001279 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF, AF/W, AF/C, AF/RSA, AF/EPS AND INR/AA AID/W FOR AFR/WA ACCRA ALSO FOR USAIDWA PARIS FOR POL - D,ELIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2016 TAGS: PINS PBTS SOCI KFLU XY CM SUBJECT: SEVENTH HIGH LEVEL MEETING OF HEADS OF UN PEACE MISSIONS IN WEST AFRICA Classified By: Ambassador Janice L. Jacobs for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) On May 29, UNSYG Special Representative for West Africa Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Ambassador that he is traveling to Yaounde this week to try to broker a summit on demarcating the border between Cameroon and Nigeria on the Bakassi Peninsula. He also provided a summary of his May 12 meeting with the four UN Special Representatives in West Africa. Although Guinea does not have a SR, Guinea was of particular concern, as is youth employment, which will be the subject of a UN regional meeting in June in Freetown. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) On May 29, Ambassador Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN Secretary General,s Special Representative (SR) for West SIPDIS Africa told the Ambassador that he is going to Yaounde this week to attempt to broker a summit on demarcating the Cameroon-Nigeria border on the Bakassi Peninsula. He also shared a summary of the Seventh High Level Meeting of Heads of UN Peace Missions in West Africa, which took place in Abidjan on May 12 and brought together UNSRs from Cote d,Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone with UN Office of West Africa (UNOWA) staff. MANO RIVER UNION -------------- ¶3. (C) According to Ould-Abdallah, the fragile situation in the Mano River Union dominated the discussion. The Special Representatives concluded that UNMIL and UNIOSIL will continue to play an important role in guaranteeing stability as Liberia and Sierra Leone, respectively, proceed with difficult but necessary reforms. COTE D,IVOIRE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Ould-Abdallah and the other SRs called upon President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny. The UNSRs welcomed Gbagbo and Banny,s commitment &to implement the road map in a timely and effective manner.8 The UNSRs called for effective implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; identification; and redeployment of government officials throughout Cote d,Ivoire. GUINEA-BISSAU -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The UNSRs felt the picture in Guinea-Bissau was mixed. The military operations on the Senegalese border created a &humanitarian crisis.8 However, progress on reconciliation and security sector reform was laudable, as was the extension of the IMF Staff Monitoring Program. OTHER REGIONAL ISSUES -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Human rights violations, youth unemployment, malnutrition in the Sahel and the spread of avian influenza were also discussed. A meeting on youth employment is planned for Freetown in June, and the next UNSR meeting is scheduled to take place in Bissau before UNSR Joao Honwana departs definitively in June or July. ¶7. (U) Visit Dakar's classified website at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar/. JACOBS