Africa – 17 June 2016
Japan backs African call for UN Security Council reform
Japan said Thursday that it will support calls by Africa – and Turkey – for UN Security Council reform when it takes the council’s helm next month.
Masakazu Hamachi, the Japanese parliament’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, made the remarks in Gambia, at the opening session of the preparatory ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
The ministerial meeting which started in Banjul today was held in preparation for the first-ever TICAD conference to be held in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya in August.
AA
President Values Cooperation for Peace and Security to Regional Economic Development
The President of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), José Eduardo dos Santos, considered on Tuesday important the cooperation and mobilization of political will to treat the Peace and Security issues, aimed at promoting cooperation and economic and social development in the member countries of the region.
The Angolan statesman said so when speaking at the opening session of the 6th Ordinary Summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), as President of this regional body in Luanda, which took place under the motto “Accelerating the effective implementation of the pact and its protocols for a more democratic and stable Great Lakes Region.
He said that this cooperation framework in the member states also met the conditions for organizing the Economic and Investment Forum in the Great Lakes region, which took place in February this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AllAfrica.com
The 604th meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council on the situation in Guinea Bissau
The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), at its 604th meeting, held on 9 June 2016, was briefed by the Commissioner for Peace and Security on the situation in Guinea Bissau. Council also received the statements made by the representatives of Senegal, African member of the United Nations Security Council, and of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Council, recalling its previous pronouncements on the situation in Guinea-Bissau, including Communiqué PSC/PR /COMM/2. (DLXXXVI), adopted at its 586th meeting held on 31 March 2016, following its mission to that country, from 16 to 21 March 2016, expressed its deep concern about the latest developments in the political and institutional crisis in Guinea Bissau. Council noted, with regret, that despite numerous mediation efforts made by the international community, particularly the AU, ECOWAS, the Community of Portuguese?speaking Countries (CPLP) and many other actors, the differences deepened between the main political authorities of the country, especially between the President of the Republic and the leadership of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), after the dissolution of the Government by Presidential Decree, on 12 May 2016.
einnews.com