MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. African countries lack an open and frank dialogue when they decide which countries to cooperate with, and they should not be dictated to decide between old and new friends, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel Leonardo Santos Simao said in an interview with TASS.

"We have to recognize that Africans, African countries, they feel that they need to bring other partners for their development. But for me, you can bring new partners, it's your choice to bring it, but it's important also that you preserve all the partnerships and changing with them where it's necessary to change. The idea that you have a new friend but you chase out the old one, maybe it's not a good one in the long run," he said.

"What is important is, okay, we have a lot of common things which happened in the past, but also there are areas which need our attention because we need to change. Then you sit down in an open and frank dialogue. Sometimes not easy dialogue, but it's a dialogue which is necessary until you reach a common ground," Simao added.