New York, 11 June-(ANA)-Despite some impressive gains in rebuilding Sierra Leone seven years after the end of its brutal civil war, the situation in the West African nation remains fragile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.
"The outbreak of political violence in March of this year was a wake-up call on challenges that require urgent and continued attention," Ban told the UN Peacebuilding Commission's high-level meeting on Sierra Leone.
The governing All People's Congress (APC) and the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) signed a Joint Communique on April 2, ending violence that threatened to spiral out of control between the two parties in early March.
"I commend President Koroma, government and opposition leaders and ordinary Sierra Leoneans for rising above differences and overcoming the recent crisis," said Ban, adding that the adoption of the agreement "has renewed hope in Sierra Leone's journey toward peace and prosperity."
The UN is ready to help the parties fulfill their commitments under the agreement, he said, including through the provision of emergency resources from the Peacebuilding Fund, which recently approved 1.8 million U.S. dollars to support inter-party dialogue and strengthen the capacity of Sierra Leone's police.
Sierra Leone, along with Burundi, was one of the first countries to receive support from the Commission, established in 2005 to help post-conflict countries determine the priority areas for rebuilding out of the vast array of challenges they face. (ANA)
Noble Pease Prize/Nagasaki survivor