The sixth meeting of the Special Representatives and Envoys of the UN Secretary-General, Regional Directors and Resident Coordinators of the United Nations System in Central Africa began on Thursday 26 April in Libreville under the theme: "political dialogues and agreements in Central Africa: challenges, opportunities and prospects". In his opening statement, Mr. Raymond Placide Ndong Meyo, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gabon, stressed the importance and timeliness of this theme. In particular, he indicated that it "addresses main issues related to the political stability of the sub-region as well as its economic development".

Culture of dialogue and consultation

"Central Africa has a rich culture of dialogue and consultation in the regulation of public life", also said the State Minister. He equally pointed out that the implementation of political agreements guarantees "the return to stability and reorients resources to tackle common challenges for all countries of the sub-region, especially many obstacles to development and growth.”

By the same token, Mr. François Louncény Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA, underlined in his introductory remarks that "political dialogue and agreements are an essential component of the crisis management and conflict resolution approaches for the majority of Central African States". He said, "many countries in the sub-region have experienced conflicts and crises at some point in their recent history, particularly over the past two decades.” 

Mr. Fall added that this sixth meeting takes place in a context where many "ECCAS member countries have just emerged from a national dialogue, followed by a political agreement and recommendations for the future; others are currently going through it or are preparing to set up permanent frameworks for dialogue, fruit of these agreements". He said that the meeting would "take stock of these various dialogues and agreements, and draw lessons for the future, given that political dialogues and agreements will certainly continue to represent a privileged tool for crisis prevention and resolution in our sub-region".

Rich and constructive exchanges

"I look forward to rich and constructive exchanges, as well as concrete recommendations on how the United Nations can most effectively support regional partners in their own approaches and instruments to end crises," said the Special Representative and Head of UNOCA, expressing the hope that the discussions will take into account not only the reforms undertaken by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, but also the Integrated Prevention Platform, which is one of his priority agendas.