UN Resident Coordinator Seraphine Wakana presents credentials to Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation Minister.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator (RC) to Sierra Leone, Ms. Seraphine Wakana, today presented copies of her letters of credence to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperations (MoFAIC), Mr. Timothy Musa Kabba, at a ceremony held at the Ministry's offices on Tower Hill, Freetown.

At the presentation, the Minister profoundly welcomed and congratulated the new RC, whose appointment was announced by the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General on December 5 from New York headquarters.

Minister Kabba indicated that Sierra Leone is a beneficiary of many United Nations’ programmes and "we do not take it lightly when we deal with the UN," emphasising the role played by the UN in Sierra Leone over the years.  

The Minister said that the arrival of the new RC was timely owing to the beginning of a new phase of the National Development Plan and support required by the UN Country Team (UNCT) for its implementation.

Minister Kabba also briefed the RC on the Agreement for National Unity, signed with the main opposition party, and the “Committee on Electoral Systems and Management Bodies Review”, which was launched by H.E. the President on 21 November 2023..

"On behalf of H.E the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, I welcome you, and I look forward to working with you to achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan," Minister Kabba concluded.

In her response, the RC expressed condolences for the lives lost on November 26 and manifested her hopes that the country would recover soon.

She also explained that she had already been briefed on the ‘Agreement for National Unity’ and its implementation mechanisms and assured that the UN would continue to support the process.

Ms. Wakana also emphasised the importance of accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and elaborated on the role of the UNCT on the support to the Government’s ‘Big Five’ Game Changers.

She informed the Minister that the UN Country Team was working on developing its next multi-year Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), which will be aligned to the new National Development Plan and the 2030 Agenda. She mentioned that the coordination of this effort would be one of her priority areas to ensure the new UNSDCF will be ready to start in January 2025, when the current one ends.

In attendance at the presentation ceremony today were the Deputy Minister of MoFAIC, Ms Francess Paigie Alghali and the Director General of the MoFAIC, Ms Victoria Sulimani, among others.