Commending the efforts of West African nations in bringing stability to sub-regions, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that, “The situation in West Africa says a lot of the region’s growing capacity to deal with regional problems.”
He was speaking at a regular briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York, following a one-week visit to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Guinea, The Gambia and Senegal.
The primary objective of his visit was to escalate the sustaining peace initiatives in Burkina Faso and the Gambia – two countries that are in political transition. He asserted that the situation in Guinea-Bissau, which he did not visit this time, was also a major topic of discussion during his tour.
The UN political chief added that the transition in the Gambia is “a very clear case of prevention,” in which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the UN were “all united behind the will of Gambian people.”