Ambassador Staffan Tillander of Sweden was officially appointed as the Chair for the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission’s Country Configuration for Liberia on 17 April 2012 to replace H.R.H Prince Zeid of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Ambassador Tillander will pay his first official visit to Liberia between 14 and 18 May 2012.

During this time, in addition to meeting with a number of national authorities working on peacebuilding, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) Liberia Chair will be visiting Bong and Lofa counties. The objective of these visits is for the Chair to observe first hand progress made and challenges remaining on the peacebuilding targets specified in the Statement of Mutual Commitments (SMC), which is the official document defining Liberia's peacebuilding priorities as well as the commitments made by the Government of Liberia and the United Nations System, respectively.

The Government of Liberia requested to be placed on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in May 2010, to help the country consolidate its peace, by strengthening rule of law, reforming the security sector, and undertaking healing and national reconciliation; a request which was accepted and formally endorsed in September 2010. The engagement of the PBC in Liberia is a first insofar as it represents the first time that a country with a UN Peacekeeping mission has been placed on the agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission . This reality presented the UN with a very good opportunity to show that peacekeeping and peacebuilding are two sides of the same coin. The developing of the Justice and Security hubs as prioritized in the SMC is an excellent example of the coming together of the Peacekeeping and peacebuilding agendas.
In addition to its focus on security sector reform, justice and rule of law, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) places great emphasis on the importance of national reconciliation and welcomes the recent efforts to develop a national reconciliation strategy as was agreed upon with the former PBC Chair during the PBC Delegation Mission in June 2011.  With full appreciation that national stakeholders should drive their own reconciliation process, and acknowledging that reconciliation is a long term process that can be pursued in phases,  the Peace Building Commission is open to assist.  

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