By Xinhua,
United Nations : The newly appointed United Nations envoy to Sierra Leone is traveling around the West African country to assess the level of preparations for upcoming local government elections next month.
Michael Schulenburg, who is acting executive representative of the secretary-general, is on a week-long visit to provinces of Kono, Kenema, Bo and Makeni, where he will hold consultations with local councils, political parties, electoral officials, women candidates and civil society groups, as well as the police and the army.
A statement released Monday from the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) said that Schulenburg would reaffirm the world body’s commitment to helping meet the peace building challenges in the country.
Sierra Leone was wracked by a prolonged civil war during most of the 1990s. UN sources said the political and security situation in the nation is generally calm despite recent several violent incidents involving supporters of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) and the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).