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African problems to be among key topics at 67th UN GA

Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman will attend the session in New York on September 26-27 as deputy head of the Russian delegation

MOSCOW, September 24 (Itar-Tass) —— African problems will be among key topics at the upcoming 67th U.N. General Assembly, presidential special envoy to Africa and Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov said.

Margelov will attend the session in New York on September 26-27 as deputy head of the Russian delegation.

“Of special concern to the international community is the tense situation in the Sahel region. The war in Libya spurred up the activity of Al-Qaeda-related terrorist and separatist groups in that area, and it is practically impossible to control their operations,” he said on Monday, September 24.

Their operations include terrorism, religious extremism, trafficking in arms, humans and drugs, and illegal migration.

“This area becomes critical for forming a ‘green arc’ of instability from Sahel to the Horn of Africa and further on to the Middle East, with branches in Europe,” the senator said.

He believes that “the development of this critical situation could be curbed only by coordinated international efforts, in which Russia is ready to take an active part”.

On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Margelov plans to meet with U.N. Under-Secretary-General Wu Hongbo, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa Maged Abdelaziz, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Jorge Sampaio, and Special Representative for the Sahel of the French President, Jean Felix-Paganon.

Margelov will also attend a high-level ministerial meeting on the situation in the Sahara-Sahel region and a high-level meeting on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He will represent Russia at the G-8 ministerial meeting on the Deauville Partnership.

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