 Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
"If the international community requests that the AU bear the brunt of its initial response to a crisis, it has an obligation to support the AU in ensuring that that response is credible," Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy told the Security Council at the start of a debate on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon"s latest report on the issue.
"There is a need to provide resources for peacekeeping in a sustainable and predictable manner without undermining the flexibility required to respond to a crisis quickly. Currently, AU peacekeeping is entirely dependent on the same small pool of donors."
Citing UN support for AU missions in Sudan and Somalia, he said the international community must ensure that the most effective mechanism is made available to the AU when the Council authorizes it to undertake peacekeeping operations. "Building a resilient and responsive African Union is vital for the establishment of an effective complementary system for global peacekeeping," he added.
Mr. Le Roy noted that Mr. Ban"s report laid out a number of areas for immediate action, including streamlining the UN presence in Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters, and providing additional capacity-building, calling it a further step in a long-term process of UN support to AU peacekeeping.
"Our partnership is strong and recognizes that security and the means of providing it is a prerequisite for long-term sustainable development," he said. "This is particularly true in Africa, where instability and conflict continue to undermine the aspirations of the people in a number of countries."
He cited cases where the AU has taken on responsibilities in complex situations with the Council"s authorization when conditions have not been conducive to a UN peacekeeping role, and stressed the joint efforts of the two in Darfur (with the force known as UNAMID) and UN support for the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia (known as AMISOM) as examples of the kind of partnerships that can be achieved.
"Serious capacity and resource constraints have, however, hampered the ability to fully realize the potential of this partnership," he warned.
Mr. Ban"s report outlined steps to boost AU capacity in UN-authorized peacekeeping and assessed the recommendations of an AU-UN panel which issued its own report last December, advocating concrete steps to strengthen the mutual relationship. Twenty-two speakers are scheduled to take part in today"s debate.
Source: UN News
Global 
-
-
-
U.S. President Barack Obama's top Russia adviser has said that diplomats from Washington and Moscow will likely meet in the coming weeks to work on a new UN Security Council draft resolution targeting the Syrian government over its bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters. more
-
More than 500 protesters have gathered in Moscow's Pushkin Square to demand more government funding for science and scientists in Russia. more
-
Anders Hjemdahl of the Stockholm-based Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism talked to RFE/RL about why Western Europeans seem to know so little about the communist past. more
-
The Paris prosecutor's office has dropped an investigation into a French writer's claim that former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her. more
-
A prominent member of a Russian anarchist street-art collective who faced jail for overturning a police car has had the charges against him lifted. more
-
The Slovak parliament has approved expanding the powers of the European Union's bailout fund. more
-
A Prague court has ruled that former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich should not be extradited to Belarus. more
Comments
|
Popular Right Now
Popular Commentary
New Reports
New World News
 Singer Whitney Houston, dead at 48Sundered by drug abuse and a slumping career, the talented and once beautiful Whitney Houston has passed away. - Pakistan: Short stories in Punjabi, to promote Christian values and common good
Fr. Mukhtar Alam has published a volume of stories of his mother. Stories that give "light" to those who are in the "dark" and teach the common good. At presentation, near the cathedral of Faisalabad, intellectuals, writers and leaders of the Church of Pakistan Muslim.
- Hong Kong: Hong Kong, jobs emergency: workers shortage by 2018
One government study confirms need for 14 thousand workers by 2018 to maintain economic growth at current levels. Behind this there are restrictive policies on birth control imposed by Beijing and the decision not to give citizenship to those born in the Territory.
- Myanmar: Monk Gambira, leader of the Saffron Revolution, free again
The authorities had yesterday detained him "for questioning". First released only a month ago, Gambira has spent the past three years in prison for leading protests by monks against the Burmese government.
- India: Karnataka: Jesuits and schools targeted by Hindu nationalists
Three attacks since 2011 at St. Joseph's PU College, Anekal. The religious are accused of not having displayed the national flag on Republic Day, but the president has always denied this. Silence of police and authorities. Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): ...
|
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Google+