News

Sports

Business

Entertainment

GhanaWeb TV

Africa

Opinions

Country

Security Council delegation departs

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 Source: GNA

Accra, June 30, GNA - The visiting 15-member United Nation (UN) Security Council left Accra for Cote d'Ivoire on Monday after holding consultations with President John Agyekum Kufuor and his government on peace and security in the West Africa Sub-Region.

The Mission, which is on an eight-day tour of some West African states discussed how to end the instability in the Sub-Region.

Mr Jeremy Greenstock, the UK Ambassador to the UN, who is leading the Mission, in his opening, remarks before a 90-minute closed-door consultations with government officials, said they were keen to discuss with the Leadership of ECOWAS how to approach the problems.

He said political decisions would have to be made by ECOWAS Leaders, adding that they were keen to discuss with Ghana, which is the current Chairman of ECOWAS, how the Sub-Region could take a collective approach to the issues as problems in one country led to problems in another.

Mr Greenstock said they had been to Guinea Bissau and Nigeria and would be going to C?te d'Ivoire and Liberia.

In C?te d'Ivoire they would discuss how to firm up the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and make sure that it was implemented.

On Liberia, Mr Greenstock said they were concerned that the fragile ceasefire might not live long unless there was a political agreement that was carefully constructed with ECOWAS and the international community.

The rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) on Friday declared a unilateral ceasefire after heavy fighting with government forces broke the June 17 ceasefire they signed in Accra together with the second rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

The Peace Talks in Accra have been adjourned until Friday for two Commissions of ECOWAS to meet on the crisis.

On the government side were Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Minister of Defence, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of the Interior, Papa Owusu Ankomah, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Mr Andrews Awuni, Deputy Minister of Information.

The UN Mission, which arrived on Sunday night from Abuja, Nigeria, would meet President John Agyekum Kufuor before continuing on their visit.

Before the Mission left New York last Wednesday, Mr Greenstock said the trip would focus on three principal issues - the situations in Guinea-Bissau, C?te d'Ivoire and Liberia.

He said the Mission would demonstrate that the Security Council was paying close attention to the regions of Africa that badly needed international attention.

Mr Greenstock said in executing the mission he was pleased to be working closely with regional governments and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), particularly on C?te d'Ivoire and Liberia and with the Economic and Social Council on the issue of Guinea-Bissau.

He said Linas-Marcoussis Agreement was a good agreement that must be built upon by the protagonists in the recent civil strife, particularly in the North and West of C?te d'Ivoire, following a long period of political breakdown among different factions.

Source: GNA