The UN May Fund AU Peacekeeping Missions

(PANA)--The African Union (AU) is close to securing UN funding for its future peacekeeping operations which might see the direct funding of the African peacekeeping mission Somalia, currently facing a financing crisis .

The UN Security Council, whose members are currently on an African tour, indicated on Sunday that a final decision on the request by the AU for direct UN funding for its peacekeeping initiatives, could be announced by September. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is expected to submit a report to the Security Council before 18 September 2009, on the modalities of funding the AU peacekeeping operations in future, a joint meeting of the Security Council and the AU has resolved.

The AU is jointly undertaking a peace operation with the UN in Sudan’s western Darfur region, known as the UN-AU Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The AU is also undertaking a separate African Union Mission in Somalia, known as (AMISOM). Ban has been at the forefront of seeking stronger ties between the AU and the UN. During his first trip to Africa to attend an AU heads of state assembly meeting in Addis Ababa, the UN chief formed a panel of experts to help examine this cooperation in detail. The panel has been exploring the joint cooperation and is expected to submit its report to the Secretary-General soon, for onward presentation to the Council.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council and the AU’s peace and security council in Addis Ababa on Saturday, the two organs agreed to further fine-tune the joint financing strategy for African peacekeeping operations and await the UN Secretary ’s final report. ‘The Security Council and the PSC look forward to the report to be submitted by the Secretary-General no later than 18 September, 2009, in accordance with the Council Presidential statement of 18 March, 2009,’ the two organs said after a meeting Sunday.

AU Commission President Jean Ping has sent envoys to the Security Council in the past to plead for funding of the AU peacekeeping operations in Somalia and even urged the UN to take over the operation in Somalia due to lack of funds on the part of the AU. Although the UN Security Council agreed to fund the peace operation in Somalia in principle, a decision on whether to send UN blue helmets to the country was forced to await a decision by veto-wielding members of the Council in June this year.

<< Back to main