New York, US - The UN political offices in West Africa and Central Africa have held a joint meeting on common cross-border threats, including piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, the aftermath of the Libyan crisis on security across the Sahel and the activities of the notorious rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). A UN statement made available to PANA in New York on Thursday said the meeting, which was held in Dakar, Senegal was attended by Said Djinnit, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, his counterpart for Central Africa, Abou Moussa and other UN officials.

It noted that the meeting was the first of a series of planned exchanges, which would be held periodically by the UN regional offices in Africa.

'The meeting between Djinnit, who is also head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and Moussa, who spearheads the UN Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), was aimed at creating a regional approach to conflict prevention and peace building,' it said.

The statement also said that Moussa briefed the meeting on the ongoing efforts to control the LRA, which have wreaked havoc in several countries in Central Africa.

On his part, Djinnit discussed the work of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, the UN-backed mechanism for peacefully resolving the long-standing border dispute between the two countries, as well as other security issues in West Africa.

Recently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised concern on the increased insecurity in Central Africa, in a message to a meeting of the UN Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in the region.

Ban also emphasized the need to reduce the flow of arms in Central Africa, and has deployed a team to assess the scope of the piracy threat in the Gulf of Guinea.

Pana 22/12/2011