November 17th, 2025
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio Chairs United Nations Security Council High-level Open Debate on Threats to International Peace and Security—Conflict-Related Food Insecurity.
This open debate serves as the principal signature event during Sierra Leone’s tenure as President of the Security Council for November.
The Briefers were H.E. Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Ms. Joyce Msuya, Assistant-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator , H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, (VTC)African Union Special Envoy on Food Systems and Mr. Maximo Torrero Cullen, Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
In Sierra Leone’s National Statement delivered by H.E. President Bio, he drew attention to
Sierra Leone’s history as a lesson “that
peace is not inherited — it is cultivated, season by season, through peaceful settlement of dispute, justice, and equity” and named hunger, too as “a form of violence — slow, silent, and corrosive.”.
President Bio called for food security to be affirmed as “peace
security, not a secondary humanitarian issue”, and further highlighted three main points.
First, “starvation is not collateral damage; it is a crime”.
Second, “food Insecurity must be viewed through the lens of a driver of
conflict, as well as a peacebuilding imperative”.
Third, “which relates to the peace and development nexus, “as President of Sierra Leone, I bring to this agenda our own national experience — our Feed Salone Initiative — as both a local model and a regional contribution to the global pursuit of peace through food security.
Sierra Leone’s experience teaches that
peace must be fed- literally and figuratively
—every season.”
Read Full Statement here:
@MFAIC_SL
