The United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON) will work closely with the East African Community to promote peace and security within the East African region.
According to Sahle-Work Zewde, the Director General of the UNON, the UN was keen on collaborating with the EAC and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in conflict prevention and conflict management.
Ms. Zewde said the UN’s priority was preventive diplomacy in preventing conflicts, adding that it would cooperate with the EAC addressing the conflict in South Sudan, radical extremism in East Africa and supporting Burundi peace process.
Ms. Zewde said the UN mission in Burundi had been through several stages including peacekeeping and a political mission. The UN official emphasized the importance of homegrown solutions and mediation in addressing national conflicts, adding that electoral disputes were the cause of political instability in Africa.
Ms. Zewde was speaking when she paid a courtesy call on the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
In his remarks, Amb. Mfumukeko briefed the Director General on the progress of the Inter-Burundi Dialogue and the efforts being made by the EAC Secretariat to facilitate the peace talks.
On the entry of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community, the SG said that the EAC Secretariat was working on a roadmap to integrate the world’s youngest country into the EAC.
The two leaders agreed on the development on a joint EAC-UN Framework on Collaboration in various sectors under which the EAC would identify priorities it would like to be addressed in cooperation with the UN.
