30/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, at a special public meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Africa, in New York in the presence of OAU Secretary General Amra Essy, stressed that "We could benefit from closer co-operation between the United Nations and the Organisation for African Unity". For its part, the European Union is "fully committed to working closely and at all levels with the UN", he assured his audience, noting that this co-operation was especially intense over the crisis in the Great Lakes, the Horn of Africa and in West Africa. "Elsewhere, we seek strong international action on illicit trade in arms, the ruthless exploitation of Africa's resources, the use of child soldiers and the curse of anti-personnel mines", said Solana, adding that he would continue to raise these issues with the Secretaries General of the UN and the African Union and through the EU's Special Representatives (for the Great Lakes, the Horn of Africa: Ed.).