UN General Assembly
1997

and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in June this year. We in Africa are becoming more and more aware of the paramount importance of self-reliance. Any assistance from development partners must be seen as a complement to what we can or should do by ourselves. 25 Within the context of subregional cooperation, the Gambia hosted the twelfth summit of Heads of State and Government of the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), held in Banjul from 11 to 12 September 1997. The summit unanimously elected His Excellency Colonel Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh, President of the Republic of the Gambia, as chairman of the organization for the next three years. These meetings and activities testify to the importance attached to the issues of drought and desertification, not only in Africa, but also in other parts of the world, and to the urgent need for a sustained collaborative effort to combat the twin menace. In this regard, the Gambia is fully and actively participating in