The United Nations and OAU have continued their efforts to strengthen and broaden their cooperation. In the economic and social fields, they coordinated their activities and initiatives on the preparation and outcome of international conferences, including those on population, social development and women. They also cooperated on the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s and Agenda 21 to harmonize positions and to facilitate the implementation of programmes on which agreement has been reached.
Cooperation between the two Organizations in the areas of preventive diplomacy and peacemaking has made progress. I have maintained close contact with the Secretary-General of OAU to exchange views on how best to contribute to the prevention and resolution of conflicts in Africa. In Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, the two Organizations continue to consult and cooperate in the search for peace and reconciliation. In Western Sahara, OAU is cooperating closely with the United Nations in the process leading to the referendum. I have also met and exchanged views with representatives of the countries that are members of the central organ of the OAU mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution. On 17 and 18 July 1995, I met at Addis Ababa with the current Chairman of OAU, President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, and the Secretary-General of OAU, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, and discussed with them ways and means of strengthening further the cooperation between the two Organizations.
The secretariats of the United Nations system and OAU are scheduled to meet at Addis Ababa from 6 to 10 November 1995 to work out the details of the programme of cooperation between the two Organizations for 1996 and beyond. High on the agenda of the meeting is cooperation in the prevention and management of conflicts and in democratic transition in Africa.
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