S/PV.6206
6206th meeting
Monday, 26 October 2009, 10 a.m.
New York
Peace and security in Africa
Mr. Dabbashi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): I would like at the outset to welcome Mr. Romano Prodi and to thank him for his presence with us today. We wish also to thank him and his panel for their laudable efforts in preparing the report (A/2008/813) and drafting its recommendations. These efforts have enabled us to meet on several occasions, including today. We also wish to thank Under-Secretary-General Le Roy for presenting the report of the Secretary-General (S/2009/470) before us and for the efforts he and his colleagues in the Secretariat have undertaken to prepare the report and the assessment contained therein.
More than two years ago, the Security Council began to take a serious look at ways in which the United Nations and the African Union (AU) can find a predictable, guaranteed and sustainable source of funding for AU peacekeeping operations. The United Nations and the AU formed a joint panel, led by Mr. Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, to study the issue. On 31 December 2008, following a in-depth and detailed study, the panel issued its report (see S/2008/813), which recommended a number of practical steps aimed at converting the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) into a United Nations peacekeeping operation through the use of the United Nations regular budget for six months.
In a presidential statement dated 18 March 2009 (S/PRST/2009/3), the Security Council, under the Libyan presidency, requested the Secretary-General to submit a report on practical ways to provide effective support for the African Union and to include in it a detailed assessment of the recommendations contained in the report of the African Union-United Nations panel. The African Union Peace and Security Council, in its communiqué dated 13 March 2009, stated that the panel’s report was an important step in the efforts to enhance the AU’s capacity to address the challenges facing the African continent in the area of peace and security. It also emphasized the need for continued efforts to find predictable, sustainable and flexible funding for AU peacekeeping operations. In the report before us (S/2009/470), the Secretary-General states that the AU Commission repeatedly emphasized that need during its consultations with the Secretariat.
Clearly, there is an ongoing effort to support the African Union in building its own capacities. While we appreciate that acknowledged effort, it requires continuous assessment. The main problem — securing sustained, predictable and flexible funding for African peacekeeping — continues to completely elude us. It cannot be solved through voluntary contributions unless States with the capacity to do so commit themselves to making specific contributions to the AU Peace Fund for several years. However, because we doubt that that will happen, we remain convinced that funding from the United Nations regular budget is the best option, at least with regard to AMISOM. We believe that making it a United Nations mission as soon as possible is crucial to the restoration of peace and stability in Somalia and throughout the Horn of Africa region.
While some here might say that the Libyan delegation is being radical in its demands, reality shows otherwise. Our emphasis on the requests and needs of Africa is based on the following.
First, accelerating the restoration of peace and security in Somalia is essential to restoring stability in the Horn of Africa and to enhancing the credibility of and strategic partnership between the United Nations and the African Union.
Secondly, the United Nations spends huge amounts of money on peacekeeping operations in areas in which there are fewer threats to international peace and security and to the lives of civilians than in Somalia. Somalia must not be treated differently.
Thirdly, a number of States that object to the use of the United Nations regular budget in Somalia spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on their maritime presences off Somalia’s coast. Had those resources been allocated to funding and developing AMISOM so that it could meet United Nations standards and reach its authorized strength, the Government of Somalia could have extended its authority throughout the country and the phenomenon of piracy off the Somali coast, which necessitated those foreign maritime presences, would have disappeared.
Within its limited capacities, the African Union is attempting to meet the needs of its peacekeeping operations through its Peace Fund, which has been receiving 6 per cent of the AU’s regular budget. On 31 August 2009, during the special session that it held in Tripoli on the consideration and resolution of conflicts in Africa and the promotion of sustainable peace, the AU decided to raise that amount to 12 per cent. We hope that the Fund’s donor base will be expanded and that States able to do so will generously contribute to the Fund until a consensus can be reached within the Security Council on how to find a predictable and sustainable source of funding for AU peacekeeping operations that will enable them to meet United Nations standards and reach their authorized strength.
We appreciate the efforts of the United Nations to enhance the capacities of the AU. We also appreciate the support provided to AMISOM by the United Nations and donors, and we hope that that support will continue and grow until AMISOM becomes a United Nations mission.
We must not forget that responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security rests first and foremost with the Security Council. The activities of the African Union are meant to support the role entrusted to the Security Council in Chapter VIII of the Charter. Therefore, promoting partnership and shouldering its responsibility towards African Union peacekeeping operations are duties mandated by the Charter, and the Council must carry out those duties and responsibilities without hesitation.
