12 December 2007
Guinea-Bissau will become the third country on the agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), the United Nations advisory body set up to help countries emerging from conflict avoid sliding back into war or chaos, after the Security Council backed a request from the Government of the West African country.
Guinea-Bissau is expected to formally join Sierra Leone and Burundi on the Commission's country-specific workload once the PBC holds consultations next Monday on the Security Council's referral of the situation.
The referral comes as the Council heard briefings today from Shola Omoregie, the head of the UN Peacebuilding Support in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), and from Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Mr. Costa highlighted the threat that cocaine trafficking is posing to the country and its neighbours in the region, and urged the international community to make sure that Guinea-Bissau receives enough short-term assistance so that it does not collapse.
Since 2005, some 33 tons of cocaine have been seized across West Africa, but Mr. Costa said this may be "only the tip of an iceberg," adding that in Guinea-Bissau the value of the drug trade is greater than the entire national income.
"Drug money is perverting the economy and rotting society," he told Council members. "Using threats and bribes, drug traffickers are infiltrating State structures and operating with impunity."
UNODC said the country's authorities, particularly its police and justice system, are overwhelmed by the problem and by the alliance between foreign criminal groups and powerful local figures.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 UN News Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
