11 November 2013 – New regional offices of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) in Bafatá (East) and Buba (Quinará South) were inaugurated over the weekend by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), José Ramos-Horta.

In Bafata, Governor Lassana Fati welcomed the SRSG, accompanied by the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and DSRG, Gana Fofang and other officials of UNIOGBIS, in opening the inauguration ceremony of the new offices with the hymns of Guinea-Bissau and the United Nations (UN) and the ribbon cutting by José Ramos-Horta.

"It is a commitment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and the international community to seek to assist national authorities in normalizing the situation and returning to democratic constitutional order, so that Guinea-Bissau can, again, be a proud member of the African Union (AU), the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS), the community of Portuguese language countries (CPLP) and the UN" Ramos-Horta said at the opening ceremony of the offices of UNIOGBIS in Bafatá.

Thereafter, in the Regional Forum of the Communities of Bafatá, the SRSG praised the choice of theme for the session, "very appropriate to the current political context"-he underlined, “dedicated to peace, security and development ".

On the occasion, the Nobel laureate said that "politicians should listen to civil society and there has to be dialogue with the military, as well as between civil society and the military in order to avoid suspicions, as part of efforts to leave behind the tragedies of the past because, otherwise, it will be very difficult, even after the next election, to achieve peace, poverty eradication and sustainable development".

Governor Lassana Fati spoke next, and the conclusions of this forum will to be forwarded to the authorities in order to ensure follow-up on concrete proposals, with the support of the UN.

In Buba, UNIOGBIS leased facilities for its regional office and generously decided to cede some space to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Assistance Network (RA), which provides services to community school children, gives sewing training to women and provides a home environment to senior citizens – and to these purposes receives financing from Portuguese Cooperation, as explained by RA official Fatima Correia Mane.

The ceremonial ribbon was cut by the SRSG, accompanied by the Governor of Quinará, Amadou Camará, who in his speech stressed the importance of the effective implementation of development programmes, with the aim of improving the living conditions of the population ". José Ramos-Horta appealed to "a collective effort of all for the country to get out of the crisis", and promised continued support of UNIOGBIS.

To end the ceremonies for the day, the SRSG took part, with his entourage, in a greetings and compliments session involving the community council of elders.

UNIOGBIS now has three regional offices, in São Domingos, Bafatá and Buba, with a fourth office most probably to be established in the Bijagós islands, and whose opening is pending the resolution of logistical aspects, concluded the SRSG, José Ramos-Horta.