UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon pledged here on Sunday that the world body fully supports the peace and security in the African continent. Addressing the opening ceremony of the 14th summit of the African Union, Ban ki-moon said that the United Nations is proud to back the African Union as it fulfills its potential as a strategic and operational partner.
The African continent faces a number of critical elections, and of the 13 nations that have elections scheduled in the coming two years, six are in countries with UN peacekeeping or peace-building operations, the UN chief said.
"We must work to ensure that these lead to strong foundation for stability and democracy."
"In Cote d’Ivoire, we have seen contending political parties assume full ownership of a peace process, use regional facilitation and benefit from security, logistical and technical support from the United Nations to resolve conflicts," he said.
He urged the parties to overcome the outstanding issues and set a definite date for the election. In Liberia, the UN chief said "I pledge UN support for building security institutions as we near next year’s elections. We must work together to make Liberia an enduring success story in the transition of peacebuilding."
The UN chief said in Sudan, time is of the essence. "The elections are three months away. The two referenda to determine the future shape of Sudan are in just under a year." Ban said he is pleased that African leaders support the United Nations efforts to solve the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
"We must continue to work to deepen the encouraging improvement in relations between Chad and Sudan." In Somalia, recent events have tragically shown that the conflict has a direct bearing on global security, he continued.
