The United Nations will in January open a central African regional bureau for peace and security in Gabon's capital Libreville, a UN political advisor announced Monday.
A UN delegation is currently in Gabon "so that the office can start work in January 2011", said Angele Makombo-Eboum, who is also a mission chief for the world body.
"The aim of this bureau is to help our sub-region of central Africa to deal with problems of peace and security. The office will have a role in conflict prevention. It should work in partnership, cooperate and strengthen regional organisations such as the CEEAC (Economic Community of Central African States," Makombo-Eboum added.
"The bureau must develop an integrated approach for the sub-region in matters of peace and security. Peace and security problems cross frontiers, do not stop in a precise region and are interconnected," she said, adding that other countries had been candidates to host the office.
"Gabon is very honoured by this choice. It bears witness to the policy promoted by our leaders at the highest level and notably the head of state (Ali Bongo Ondimba). The choice of Gabon is an answer … to the stability that prevails among us. It's also an encouragement in the tasks of keeping the peace and security questions," Gabon's junior foreign minister Jules Marius Ogouebandja said.
The CEEAC includes 10 countries: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe.
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