Peace and Security

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday he was “encouraged” by reports of a newly-inked power-sharing deal between the Forces for Freedom and Change – a coalition of opposition and protest groups – and Sudan’s ruling military council.

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was on 4 June elected President of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. His tenure will begin in September 2019. In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor, Prof. Bande talks about his vision, Africa’s socioeconomic challenges including eliminating poverty, addressing climate change, promoting gender equality, and deploying multilateralism to achieving global agenda. These are excerpts.

The global reach of the United Nations makes it “the world's best hope for peace and security, sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights and social progress”, said the top Nigerian diplomat who will be the next President of the General Assembly.

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s current UN Permanent Representative, was elected to head the world body by acclamation on Tuesday in the General Assembly Hall in New York and will succeed Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa.

Despite the signing of a recent peace deal between the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and 14 armed groups, “we should not forget that the situation in the country remains serious,” a senior UN envoy told the Security Council on Thursday.

“The signing of the Global Agreement for Peace and National Reconciliation on 6 February is the culmination of a long process,” said Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN mission in CAR.

Members of the United Nations Security Council are on a mission to West Africa where they are reviewing strides made in peacebuilding by both Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau.

Arriving Thursday 14 February in the Ivoirian capital, Abidjan, Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba of Equatorial Guinea, Council President and co-lead of the mission along with Côte d’Ivoire, and the Council delegation, met with Foreign Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh and Vice-President Daniel Kablan Duncan.