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8407th Security Council Meeting: Peace and Security in Africa Part 1
Strengthening cooperation with the African Union, including by providing it with adequate financing, is key to strengthening peacekeeping operations on the continent, speakers told the Security Council as it held a day-long open debate on that subject.
“Our partnership with the African Union and African Member States is vital to our collective efforts for peace, and we must continue working to strengthen it,” Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks before the meeting. Smaïl Chergui, the African Union’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, also briefed members.
The Secretary-General noted the close collaboration between the United Nations and the Union across the continent, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Mali, Central African Republic and Darfur, to supporting political processes, national dialogues and regional mediation efforts, easing tensions and paving the way for peace agreements and elections. Such cooperation becomes increasingly important as peacekeeping encompasses complex operations with multidimensional mandates in extremely dangerous environments, he said.
He went on to emphasize the need to build the capacity to enable Africa to play its full role in that context, and to improve funding methods. “It is essential that African-led peace operations acting under the Security Council’s authority are provided with strong mandates and predictable, sustainable and flexible finance, including through UN assessed contributions where appropriate,” he stated.
Mr. Chergui, speaking via video-teleconference from Addis Ababa, said the African Union has spared no effort in expediting priorities that help to strengthen its partnership with United Nations peacekeeping, including the launch of the revitalized Peace Fund on 17 November 2018, noting that African Union member States have contributed $60 million. Significant progress has also been made in enhancing the human rights compliance framework for African Union peace support operations, as well as in joint analysis, planning and cooperation with the United Nations, he added. To strengthen the partnership, the Security Council should adopt a draft resolution — to be tabled in the coming weeks — on the need for the African Union to gain access to United Nations assessed contributions for operations authorized by the United Nations, on a case-by-case basis. That text, when adopted, should not be overloaded with conditionalities that would delay progress in the management of peace and security in Africa, he emphasized.
Delegates then took the floor to express strong support for building African peacekeeping capacity on the continent and for strengthening its partnership with the United Nations. Like many other speakers, Botswana’s representative noted the complexity of festering as well as active conflicts with delicate cross-border dimensions, saying the continent finds itself facing the simultaneous tasks of tackling conflict and implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Regional efforts can better take the local context and regional dynamics into account in facing that inter-related challenge, he added.
On the question of funding, Côte d’Ivoire’s representative called — in a statement he read out on behalf of the other two African Council members, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea — for the adoption of a resolution that would provide a framework for predictable and dependable funding, including from United Nations assessed contributions. In that context, they noted the progress made on institutional reform of the African Union in favour of financial autonomy, greater accountability and effectiveness.
While many African delegations expressed strong support for the adoption of such a resolution, and for tabling it during Equatorial Guinea’s December Presidency, others stressed that they will only support such an action if the necessary criteria are truly met and if it is based on the primacy of the Security Council in international peace and security. France’s representative said stronger funding commitments will deepen international solidarity.
Other speakers were more reluctant to endorse the African Union’s access to assessed contributions at the present time. In that vein, the representative of the United States emphasized that a rushed process which changes peacekeeping permanently is not the answer to the formidable challenges confronting peace and security in Africa.
Belgium’s representative stressed the need for equally rigorous standards for all peacekeeping operations, particularly in such areas as civilian protection and human rights. In addition, he said African Union-led missions must be able to deploy rapidly, while pointing out that the Security Council is not the ideal forum in which to discuss funding modalities.
The Russian Federation’s representative emphasized his country’s consistent support for African ownership of efforts to meet challenges on the continent under the principle of “African problems, African solutions”. He called for further consideration of funding modalities, while respecting the basic principles of peacekeeping. The priority is enabling African efforts without imposing policies prompted by the self-interest of some donor countries, which often result in counter-productive sanctions and armed interventions, he said.
With most speakers pledging their commitment to considering more dependable support for African peacekeeping, however, an observer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomed the African Union’s endeavours to foster greater respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law, describing the Committee’s own efforts to support the bloc.
At the meeting’s outset, the Secretary-General requested that delegates observe a moment of silence in honour of eight peacekeepers killed last week in the Central African Republic and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were nationals of Malawi and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Also speaking today were representatives of China, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Bolivia, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Peru, India, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Iran, Argentina, Namibia, Norway, Philippines, Germany, Estonia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Guatemala, Venezuela (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Indonesia, Israel, Rwanda, Morocco, Romania, Canada, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Djibouti, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Portugal, Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria, Turkey and Bangladesh.
An observer for the European Union delegation and the Permanent Observer for the Holy See also delivered statements.
The meeting began at 10:05 a.m. and ended at 4:20 p.m.
For further details please see:
MEETINGS COVERAGE AND PRESS RELEASES
