here - Center on International Cooperation - New York University

32 | Thematic Essayssupporting mediation by others, the series of crisesthat have assailed the region.The office was slow to develop an effectivepartnership with ECOWAS. However, it helpeddraw attention to the cross-border nature of t<strong>here</strong>gion’s many threats to security and played a leadingrole in facilitating the implementation of theOctober 2002 ruling by the International Courtof Justice on the boundary between Cameroonand Nigeria. It has also been directly involved inregional and international responses to the successionof crises that have developed in Guinea,Mauritania, Niger and Togo.UNOWA works with several advantages. Itsregional mandate and physical location in Dakar,Senegal – long a hub for UN agencies and programmes,as well as among the most stable of WestAfrican countries – mean that it is in<strong>here</strong>ntly lessthreatening to the sovereignty of any one of thecountries under its purview than a nationally locatedpolitical mission. When relations with other actorsin the UN system are working well, it can effectivelyengage in sensitive issues whilst providing adegree of political cover to the UN Resident Coordinators,agencies and programmes who may seekless complex relations with national actors. Moreover,the circumstances of its creation – by exchangeof letters between the Secretary-General and thePresident of the Security Council – and the minimalreporting demanded of it, allow it to work witha high degree of discretionThe interlocking threats to and in West Africaboth ensure an active response at the regional leveland complicate its orchestration. Neighboringstates – particularly the landlocked states of BurkinaFaso and Mali – have great interest in maintaining adegree of stability in Guinea, for example, and canbe counted on to invest time and resources in preventingits implosion. Meanwhile at the multilaterallevel, the close coordination between Said Djinnit,the former AU Peace and Security Commissionerwho became SRSG for West Africa in February2008, and Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who untilearly 2010 was President of the ECOWASCommission, underpinned the evolving partnershipbetween the two entities and their effectivecollaboration with the African Union.The UN’s second regional mission, the UNRegional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy inCentral Asia (UNRCCA), which is based inGreek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias (right) and then Turkish Cypriotleader Mehmet Ali Talat (left) meeting under UN auspices on Cyprus.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, also operates in complicatedterrain. A lengthy period of negotiationresulted in a broad mandate to assist the five CentralAsian states to respond to existing threats andemerging challenges. The Centre’s 2009-2011plan of action focuses on cross border threats fromillicit activities (terrorism, organized crime anddrug-trafficking); environmental degradation andresource management; and the implications of thesituation in Afghanistan.Although working with a minimal staff, andwithout the presence of a robust sub-regionalorganization such as ECOWAS as a counterpart,UNRCCA’s SRSG, Miroslav Jenca, has graduallybeen able to build up the credibility of his office.He secured a relatively high degree of access tothe region’s governments – none of which wouldhave accepted a political mission established on anational basis – and developed effective relationshipswith the region’s UN Resident Coordinators.Preventive work on the pressing problem of waterscarcity drew upon additional expertise from DPA’sStandby Mediation facility and underlined the utilityof UN technical expertise as an entry point to anissue of evident political sensitivity. In the wake ofthe uprising that toppled the government of PresidentKurmanbek Bakiyev in Kyrgzystan in earlyApril 2010, UNRCCA worked closely with theOSCE in the interests of an effective internationalresponse to the crisis.UN Photo