Mr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), presented on 11 January to the Security Council his activity report covering the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Dear friends around the world,

Happy New Year.

When I took office one year ago, I appealed for 2017 to be a year for peace.

Unfortunately – in fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse.

The UN plays an important role in the organization of various elections throughout the world. Simon-Pierre Nanitelamio is, since February 2017, the Deputy Director of the Electoral Assistance Division (EAD/DAE) of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (DPA/DAP).