The UN Security Council has voted in favour of local solutions to African problems as was seen in the restraint to send a peacekeeping force to Anglophone Cameroon and enforce an arms embargo violation sanctions in Libya earlier this year.

The UN says the decision on Cameroon now appears inspired, with President Paul Biya having called for a national dialogue on Anglophone Cameroon for September 30, which United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed.

A similar process is underway in Mali: President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told UNGA that a peace agreement signed in 2015 between the government and armed groups had progressively cultivated trust between the parties.

He said more than 2,500 ex-fighters were taking part in demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration under the watch of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali.

The ceasefire has helped legislate on a $72 million development zone in northern Mali, and allowed a third shot at national dialogue that President Keita said would bring lasting reconciliation and strengthen democracy.

However, Mali is facing a crisis in the middle of the country where terrorists and criminal gangs run amok.

Culled from The East African