Before leaving Yaounde in the morning, the UN Under Secretary-General and members of his delegation had the last working session with members of the diplomatic corps in Cameroon. From the discussions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) head office, the UN delegation gathered that the diplomatic community had made promises to Cameroon with regard to ensuring that the upcoming elections are free, fair and credible. The ambassadors, he said, were quite concerned that the electoral process needs to be speeded up, with particular emphasis on reforming Elections Cameroon, dialogue between the stakeholders and the ongoing registration process.
The UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs and Focal Point for Elections was at the head of a delegation whose key members included the Deputy Director at the Elections Assistance Division, Tadjoudine Ali Diabacté and the Political Affairs Officer, Roselyn Akombe. They had separate working sessions with the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Laurent Esso, the Minister of External Relations Henri Eyebe Ayissi, officials of the elections governing institution, Elections Cameroon, leaders of the five political parties represented at the National Assembly and heads of the 18 agencies that make up the United Nations System in Cameroon, headed by Thierry Mertens. The leader of the visiting UN team said that at the end of their discussions, that the people believe that the upcoming election is extremely important. He advised that all efforts be put in place to make the election as credible as possible, cause people to register and vote so that they can have confidence that the election is credible.
The UN is Cameroon’s key technical partner in improving the country’s electoral system. It has provided the software to ensure the credibility of the electoral process from registration of voters to the publication of partial results, supported the training of ELECAM officials and Tadjoudine Ali Diabacté in October 2009 and November 2010 led UN missions that had discussions with Cameroon’s elections stakeholders.
Lynn Pascoe and his delegation arrived Cameroon on February 27 from Cairo, Egypt. They were programmed to fly to Libreville, Gabon to inaugurate the UN Regional Office for Central Africa.
