United Nations, New York, June 9, 2025 (Lusa) - The UN Special Representative for Central Africa on Monday praised Sao Tome and Príncipe as a country firmly committed to reforms, especially in the justice and security sectors and to the development of a conflict prevention strategy.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council, where he presented his six-monthly report on the Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abdou Abarry highlighted São Tomé and Príncipe as “an excellent example” of how the tools of the United Nations peacebuilding architecture can be used by member states to support national peace priorities.

Last week, the UN Peacebuilding Commission had already met with São Toméan President Carlos Vila Nova, at which time it highlighted the country’s history of peaceful power transitions, “while recognising the existence of risk factors that could have a negative impact on the maintenance of peace in São Tomé and Príncipe”.

In a presentation to the Security Council largely focused on reforms, Abdou Abarry also gave the example of Chad, which in the last six months has seen the completion of its political transition, while Gabon has made “irreversible progress towards the full restoration of constitutional order”, allowing it to rejoin the African Union.

“While we should welcome these positive developments, they do not allow us to divert our attention from these countries. On the contrary, now is the time for the newly elected authorities to implement the reforms resulting from the transition processes,” argued the UN representative.

In the case of Chad, these reforms include the completion of the decentralisation and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) processes, which aim to disarm armed groups and include former combatants in the security and defence forces.

In Gabon, they include the completion of the constitutional reform of the judicial system and legislation on the role of political parties to enable them to play their full part as actors in the democratic process.

At today’s meeting, the UNOUCA leader also announced to the UN Security Council that the latest elections in Chad had been marked by significant progress in the representation of women, who now account for 34% of the members of parliament and 36.2% of the members of the Senate.

In addition, the introduction of a 30% quota for women on electoral lists in Gabon’s new electoral code suggests that the next parliament will also be more inclusive, he said.

Abdou Abarry also addressed two regional hotspots of insecurity that persist: the Lake Chad Basin and the Great Lakes region.

In the Lake Chad Basin, the Niger diplomat said, recent months have confirmed the trend seen at the end of last year, with dissident groups or groups affiliated with the Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram demonstrating resilience and adaptability in the face of coordinated operations by the defence and security forces of several countries.

Furthermore, the “escalation of tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, on the one hand, and Burundi and Rwanda, on the other, has raised fears of a regional war,” Abarry told the diplomatic corps.

Finally, the head of UNOCA addressed the enormous budgetary constraints facing the UN and some member states, “exacerbated by the multiplicity and severity of today’s humanitarian crises”.

Abdou Abarry, who said he was participating in today’s meeting remotely precisely because of these budgetary constraints, said that women and children remain the groups most affected by the lack of funding, in a context where “the inaction of the international community risks leading to a worsening of the humanitarian situation” in several countries, he warned.

“The current financial situation facing our Organisation requires us to rethink our plans and working methods.” (...) UNOCA is considering creating a Trust Fund to supplement the regular budget. This fund should give us more flexibility in terms of resources so that we can respond effectively to the good offices needs that will undoubtedly arise in a context where several countries in the region will hold elections between 2025 and 2026,” he explained.

The UN has been severely affected by funding cuts from its largest donor, the United States, following Donald Trump’s inauguration as President in January.

In this regard, it is preparing to cut its budget and jobs, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said last month.

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