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I thank Ms Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sahel, for the briefing on the progress towards implementation of the United Nations integrated strategy for the Sahel. Ms Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, as this is your first briefing for the Council, allow me to congratulate you upon assuming this position and express our support for your leadership and engagement in tackling the challenges the Sahel region faces. I also wish to commend the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) for its dedicated effort in the Sahel. Throughout the reporting period we have witnessed further deterioration of the political, security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel region that results from continuous erosion of state authority interlinked with humanitarian and development challenges as well as adverse effects of climate change. Weak governance, porous borders, illegal migration and arms trafficking, the rise of terrorist activities, especially those carried out by Boko Haram, limited development opportunities need to be addressed to prevent the outbreak of crises we have recently witnessed in Libya and Mali. To prevent threats posed by terrorist groups, notably AQIM, MUJAO, Ansar Eddine and Al Mourabitoune, crossing borders and seeking safe havens in the Sahel region and to combat activities of these terrorist groups, enhanced cooperation and coordination among the Sahel states are essential.

It is crucial to ensure that the elections in Libya are held without any delays and broad agreement on the future of transition of the country is reached among all parties. Recent clashes in northern Mali demonstrated the urgency to make progress in the political dialogue. Further deadlock could have major security consequences for Mali and the region.

The security and political challenges in the Sahel continue to be triggered by the precarious humanitarian situation. As the report states, despite good agricultural and pastoral seasons, at least 20 million people remain at risk of food insecurity and nearly 5 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Moreover, people of the Sahel are extremely vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks that strike the region rather frequent.

As the governments in the region have limited capacities to address the multifaceted, cross-cutting security, political and humanitarian challenges in the region, coordinated international engagement is of outmost importance; yet the primary responsibility and ownership for fostering peace, security and development in the Sahel should be in the hands of the countries of the region.

We commend the UN engagement in addressing the challenges in the Sahel and support its leading role in coordinating the international efforts in the Sahel. The UN Secretary General led visit to the region last November with representatives of the World Bank, African Union Commission, African Development Bank and EU to the region conveyed a clear message of readiness and willingness of international actors to coordinate their efforts aimed at addressing the challenges in the Sahel. Financial assistance provided by the EU and World Bank as well as other members of international community provides a basis to turn commitments into actions on the ground.

We welcome the Sahel strategies and projects by the EU, African Union, ECOWAS, as well as the establishment of Ministerial Coordination Platform [which had already held two meetings in Bamako, Mali in 2014] and other regional initiatives. We also welcome the commitment of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Mali to deepen cooperation in addressing the challenges in the Sahel region and the establishment of the G-5 Sahel. With so many tools and initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of the crisis in the Sahel, it is crucial to ensure their coherence and to avoid duplication. We commend the conclusions of the high-level meeting held in February, 2014 in Brussels, recognizing that the coordination platform for the Sahel should constitute the overall coordination mechanism ensuring the synergies among various strategies and approaches on the Sahel.

We believe that the UN integrated strategy for the Sahel and the implementation plan is a proper tool to ensure the cooperation and coordination of the activities of various actors’ aimed at promoting peace and security, improving humanitarian situation in the region. We hope, the G-5 Sahel group will also get involved.

Now, as the implementation plan with focus on governance, security and resilience has been developed, it is essential to ensure its swift implementation, coherence of activities on the ground and delivery of tangible results improving the living conditions of the people in the region. The Security Council should be regularly informed on the achievements of the implementation of the UN integrated strategy for the Sahel. Setting clear benchmarks of implementation would be a useful tool for monitoring progress and identifying issues that need more attention of international community.

Thank you.