UN Security Council extends mandate of peacebuilding mission in Guinea-Bissau

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of a UN peacebuilding mission in Guinea-Bissau for another year, till Feb. 28, 2019.

Resolution 2404 requests the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) to focus on supporting the Conakry Agreement, a political deal, and a regionally brokered roadmap to solve the political stalemate in the country by facilitating an inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation process.

It also asks UNIOGBIS to strengthen democratic governance, particularly with regard to the implementation of necessary urgent reforms, and to support the electoral process to ensure inclusive, free and credible legislative elections in 2018 within the legally mandated timeframe.

The tiny West African country has been plagued by chronic political instability since independence in 1974. The Conakry Agreement, signed in 2016, provides for the appointment of a consensual prime minister after President Jose Mario Vaz deposed Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, his main political rival, in mid-2015. Enditem