ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau Welcomes a Successful Election

United Nations, New York 6 April 2004: The ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau congratulates the people of Guinea-Bissau on very successful legislative elections held on 28 March 2004. "Our Group is particularly pleased that about 100 international observers have declared the elections free, fair and transparent and stressed the climate of serenity that prevailed during the electoral process," said Ambassador Dumisani S. Kumalo, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations and Chairman of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau.

The new Government, to be formed shortly, will still face continuing dire socio-economic problems, with pressing humanitarian needs, and therefore support by the international community is urgently needed and of utmost importance. "It is the feeling of our Group that the conditions that the international community had set for Guinea-Bissau have now been met and there is great hope and expectation that the international community will fulfil its responsibility in assisting Guinea-Bissau by contributing to the Emergency Economic Management Fund (EEMF) managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)," Ambassador Kumalo added.

The Emergency Economic Management Fund was created upon the recommendation of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group. The Bretton Woods Institution and the African Development Bank have also supported an Emergency Economic Management Plan for Guinea-Bissau. In the new context resulting from the elections, the Ad Hoc Advisory Group appeals to the international community, particularly donors, to increase emergency assistance to Guinea-Bissau through contributions to the EEMF. It also calls on all development partners of Guinea-Bissau to resume relevant programmes as early as possible.

The ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group was formed in 2002 and is composed of the Permanent Representatives of Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, the Netherlands, Portugal, under the Chairmanship of the Permanent Representative of South Africa. The President of ECOSOC, the Chairman of the Group of Friends of Guinea-Bissau and the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Security Council on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, take part in the work of the Group.

The mandate of the Group is to examine the humanitarian and economic needs of Guinea-Bissau, review relevant assistance programmes, prepare recommendations for a long-term programme of support and provide advice on how to ensure that assistance by the international community in support of Guinea-Bissau is adequate, coherent, well coordinated, effective and promotes synergy. The ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group receives support from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) and the United Nations Development Programme.

The Ad Hoc Advisory Group further acknowledges and welcomes the crucial role that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) have been playing in encouraging stability in Guinea-Bissau.

For more information, please contact Zaheer Laher at (212) 692 2460

Issued by the Permanent Mission of South Africa