What's In Blue

Posted Thu 2 Jun 2011

UN Regional Office for Central Africa

Tomorrow (3 June 2011) Abou Moussa, the Head of UN Office in Central Africa (UNOCA) will brief Council members during informal consultations. Moussa did not meet with Council members prior to his appointment and this will be his first interaction with Council members in his new role. This briefing is earlier than expected as the first report is only due six months after UNOCA is fully operative. There is unlikely to be an official outcome from the debate tomorrow.

The briefing is expected to focus on the setting up of UNOCA and developments in the region. Council members are likely to want to hear about UNOCA’s approach in carrying out its priorities, particularly the coordination of UN efforts in the region against armed groups like the LRA.

A joint DPKO-DPA technical assessment mission on the LRA has recently returned from the region and is expected to produce its report to the Secretary-General’s policy committee in June. The Council will likely have a briefing on its recommendations in July although it is unclear who will brief. An AU technical assessment mission on the LRA was also recently dispatched to the DRC, Sudan, CAR and Uganda in March. The AU will meet to discuss the technical mission’s conclusions and assessment on 8 June

Background to UNOCA
The intention to establish the United Nations regional office for Central Africa in Libreville was conveyed to the Council in a letter from the Secretary-General on 11 December 2009. In a letter of 30 August 2010 from the President of the Council to the Secretary-General, the Council welcomed the latter’s intentions. It requested an initial report six months after the office becomes fully operational and deemed it “appropriate” for the mission to be initially established with a 2 year mandate, reviewed after 18 months. The first preparatory teams were sent in December 2010, and the office was inaugurated on 2 March in Libreville, Gabon.

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