|
|
Angola: United Nations Ready to Help Disarm Civilians
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Luanda
Roberto de Almeida receives in audience UN official for Desarmament, Sérgio de Queiroz
The United Nations want to cooperate with the Angolan Government in the disarmament of civilians in illegal possession of firearms, thus adding their effort to that of the local authorities to reduce the negative impact that these deadly weapons may have on national reconciliation.
This was expressed Wednesday in Luanda by the high representative of the UN secretary general for Disarmaments, Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte, at a meeting with the speaker of National Assembly, Roberto de Almeida.
"We are certainly willing to cooperate, as long as the Angolan authorities want us to cooperate with them", said the UN diplomat. He added that the speaker of the Angolan Parliament "showed high interest" regarding the matter.
Sérgio Duarte explained that the UN have a regional centre based in Lome, Togo, that can help the Angolan authorities with disarmament programmes and technical assistance.
The high representative of the UN secretary general seized the occasion to thank the Parliament speaker for the grateful manner in which he has been received in Angola by the local authorities.
The Brazilian diplomat arrived in Luanda on Saturday, to attend the 27th meeting of the Central African States, that started on Tuesday and due to end on Thursday.
The event that is being organised by Angola, gathers representatives from Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Burundi, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa Republic (CAR), Sao Tome and Principe, Chad and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
During his stay in Angola, the UN official will hold talks with the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs and Defence.
The disarmament issue came into the limelight with the creation, in March this year, by the President of the Republic, José Eduardo dos Santos, of a National Commission for disarmament of people in illegal possession of firearms. The commission is coordinated by the Prime Minister, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos.
The measure took into account that the proliferation of light and small firearms, above all those obtained illegally during the war, is a threat to individual and collective security, and have a negative impact on the process of national reconstruction and reconciliation.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Angola Press Agency. 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
