The special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Leonardo Santos Simão, concluded today a four-day visit to Abuja, Nigeria.  

The objective of the visit was to discuss progress made by the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) and reiterate the United Nations’s commitment to support the two countries in their efforts to finalize the border demarcation process, and to attend the ECOWAS extraordinary ministerial-level meeting of the Mediation and Security Council which was convened today to discuss the decision taken by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In his capacity as the Chairman of the CNMC, the Special Representative met with the Head of the Nigerian delegation to the CNMC, Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, Lateef Fagbemi. The discussions focused on the need to address the outstanding disagreements between the two delegations to facilitate the finalization of the demarcation process and to implement joint confidence building projects to support the affected communities. Mr. Simão commended the Nigerian authorities for their continued engagement and reaffirmed his readiness to work with the two delegations towards completing the border demarcation process and consolidating peace between the two neighboring countries.

During his visit, the Special Representative met with the President of ECOWAS, H. E. Omar Alieu Touray with whom he discussed the recent political developments in the region including the political situation in Senegal and in the Sahel. They pledged to continue collaboration between ECOWAS and UNOWAS to address those issues and find ways towards a sustainable solution. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ECOWAS and UNOWAS aiming at defining a framework of cooperation, collaboration, and interaction for joint and complementary action between the two entities in the context of the support of the United Nations to regional and sub-regional organizations.

At the ECOWAS extraordinary ministerial-level meeting, the special Representative stressed the importance of maintaining dialogue to address the current challenges: « All the Member States of ECOWAS have a common destiny and shared aspirations, which are better guaranteed and achieved through economic integration and overall concord and solidarity. » he declared, adding that « the main tools we need to use to overcome the current difficulties of these processes is dialogue, a patient dialogue which is not obsessed to reach its end, but to create space and enough time to continue to build a common future. »