The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Kemo Cham
5 August 2008
The special representative of the United Nation's secretary general Ban-Ki Moon, on Monday, called on the vice president, Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, in her office at State House in Banjul.
Mr Said Djinnit told waiting pressmen, immediately after his audience with the vice-president, that he was on a regional tour to various countries of West Africa "for initial contact with leaders of the region", having been appointed recently by the UN secretary general as the head of the UN office for West Africa.
Issues of current global food crisis and governance, according to the UN envoy, formed the basis of his discussion with the vice president.
He said that he was impressed with the achievement of The Gambia on education and praised the government for its support for Unicef and UN agencies in promoting girls' education.
Mr Djinnit further told reporters that his discussion with the vice president touched on other important areas such as the threat on the stability of the region, as well as relations with other countries.
He called for unity for the common and shared prosperity and stability of the region.
On food self sufficiency, Mr Djinnit stressed the need for Africans to go back to farming.
"20 years ago", he said, "We were consuming what we produced, but today we do not." However, he admitted that there was strong a commitment in the region, singling out The Gambia as being a pioneering force in food production.
"Our efforts should be directed to the effort of addressing poverty," he said.
The UN, he promised, would stand on the side of the people of Africa in this regard.
Mr Djinnit, an experienced official in the diplomatic front, both at his home country of Algeria and the rest of the continent, had most recently served as the commissioner for peace and security at the African Union.
He strongly believes that the region has attained commendable progress; a progress he said was a "tragic" one in the midst of instability in the wider continent.
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