Nigeria’s stability vital to W’Africa — UN
By AGENCY REPORTER
Thursday, 15 Jul 2010

United Nations Secretary-General‘s Special representative for West Africa, Mr. Said Djinnit, on Tuesday said a strong and stable democracy in Nigeria was vital to attaining overall peace and security in West Africa.

Djinnit spoke against the backdrop of recent political developments in Nigeria, particularly the proposed constitutional reforms and the upcoming 2011 general elections, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Speaking to reporters after presenting the UN Office for West Africa latest report to the UN Security Council, Djinnit lauded the current leadership of ECOWAS for forging strong international partnerships for stability in the region.

He said Nigeria’s current leadership of ECOWAS presented it an opportunity to consolidate its important role at addressing the various challenges facing the sub-region.

Djinnit said, “Nigeria, not only as ECOWAS chair, but also as neighbour to Niger, has been playing an important role to assist efforts at securing a peaceful democratic transition process.

“Nigeria continues to be an asset in our collective efforts to stabilise the region and the efforts within Nigeria to enhance democratic governance are most welcome.

“That is why the Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) has welcomed the efforts at constitutional review; because a strong democratic Nigeria will be an asset to addressing challenges facing West Africa,” he said.

The UN envoy said he was optimistic that the current leadership of the sub-regional body would boost efforts at tackling trans-border issues such as drug trafficking and, terrorism.

He also stressed the need for security sector reforms in post conflict countries.

On Guinea, the special envoy noted that despite numerous hurdles encountered, the first round of presidential elections was organised peacefully on June 27.

He called for international support in holding the second round of those elections, saying that stable and democratic governance would also help bring stability to the region.

Earlier in his report, Djinnit told the Security Council that West Africa had made a significant progress in crisis prevention and peace building, “amidst daunting difficulties and persistent challenges.”

He recalled that six months ago, the sub-region presented a mixed picture of positive developments and less encouraging trends.

“Indeed, a presidential election was pending in Togo in an atmosphere of deep anxiety and rampant tension.

“A constitutional crisis was evolving in Niger with little prospects for a consensual solution.”