The new Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Simão, promises to keep a close eye on what is happening in Chad, a country that is receiving many refugees fleeing the conflict that is plaguing Sudan.

Leonardo Simão, who was officially appointed on May 2 for an extendable three-year term, will take up his post in early June at the office based in Dakar, Senegal.

"I think it's going to be more difficult to deal with security issues, because the problems linked to terrorism, in the area associated with organized crime, are quite complex. And organized crime is linked to the trafficking of resources, people, drugs and weapons. So it's a very complex issue," said Simão, quoted by VOA.

"The refugees are there. They need to be assisted and supported. And on top of the problems Chad is already having, it has to take on this additional burden of looking after the tens of hundreds of refugees in its own country," said the diplomat, who also outlined the first steps of his new mission.

"And the first task will be to familiarize ourselves with each of the countries, with each of the themes, the issues and to see what the role of the United Nations is in collaboration with regional bodies, such as the African Union, ECOWAS, and other various sub-regional organizations in the area and to work with them so that the objectives they are working on, whether for individual countries or for the group of countries as a whole, then give the maximum possible results," he said.