INTERVENTION FOR APRIL 17 JOINT AU PSC-UNSC

UNCLAS STATE 040762

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNSC PREL
SUBJECT: INTERVENTION FOR APRIL 17 JOINT AU PSC-UNSC
MEETING



1. This is an action request. See paragraphs 2.


2. USUN is instructed to deliver the briefing on Sudan as
requested by the President of the Security Council for the
April 17 Joint AU PSC - UNSC meeting. USUN may also draw
from the talking points in paragraph 3 for the discussion
phase of the joint meeting. USUN should join consensus on
the joint communique in paragraph 4.

Begin briefing on Sudan:

"The Security Council has been deeply engaged in
addressing all aspects of the crisis of Sudan. Over the
past several years, we have adopted numerous resolutions
and statements on implementation of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan
(GOS) and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLM),on the
situation in Darfur, and on sanctions to limit arms
transfers and restrict the activities of certain
individuals involved in violence in Darfur. On many of
these issues, the Council has worked in close partnership
with the African Union. We welcome the continuing strong
interest in the AU's Peace and Security Council in working
together with the United Nations on measures to promote
peace, stability, security and prosperity for all the
people of Sudan.

Regrettably, the efforts of the Security Council and our
partnership with the AU have fallen far short of achieving
the desired results. In each area of our engagement,
there has been a large gap between our aspirations, some
of which are expressed in legally binding obligations
created by Security Council resolutions, and flawed
implementation by the parties to the various conflicts.

With regard to CPA implementation, we can be proud of the
relatively rapid and complete deployment of the UN Mission
in Sudan (UNMIS) to assist the parties in maintaining
security following the landmark agreement ending more than
21 years of civil war. Much remains to be done, however,
in particular with regard to planning for the 2009
national elections and determination of the North/South
border, especially in the disputed Abyei region.

Concerning Darfur, I need only point to the recent
continuing violence as reflected in reports of the
Secretary-General to highlight that the Government of

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Sudan and some rebel groups have ignored the repeated
calls from our two organizations to abide by cease-fire
agreements and an end to the targeting of civilians and
humanitarian workers.

The role of the African Union in deploying the AU Mission
in Sudan (AMIS) was an important step in moving toward
effective international monitoring and support for
implementation of a peace process in Darfur, followed last
year by the adoption of resolution 1769 to mandate the
UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping operation in Darfur as the
first-ever collaborative effort of its kind.

Unfortunately, obstruction by the Government of Sudan,
shortfalls from troop contributors, and inadequate
logistical support from the UN has hindered deployment,
leaving UNAMID today with barely 1,000 more personnel than
the 8,000 it inherited from AMIS on 1 January 2008. We
must all redouble our efforts in the coming weeks and
months to ensure that the bulk of the authorized force of
up to 26,000 troops and police is deployed as soon as
possible.

With regard to sanctions, the Security Council has imposed
various limitations on arms transfers including bans on
any transfers to non-government and government parties
operating in Darfur and has demanded that the GOS cease
offensive military flights over Darfur. The
Secretary-General and the Sanctions Committee Panel of

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Experts reports document that various parties continue to
flout the arms embargo measures adopted by the Council.
The Sudanese Government's recent aerial attacks in West
Darfur are simply one of the most recent examples of the
Government of Sudan flouting the arms embargo. The
Security Council has also imposed an international travel
ban and assets freeze on four individuals for violence
committed in Darfur and for impeding the peace process.
Not only has implementation of the individual sanctions
been inadequate - the Government of Sudan has even
promoted one of the individuals sanctioned by the Security
Council to a more senior position.

Finally, the Security Council made clear that the Government
of Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur were
obligated to cooperate in bringing those guilty of serious
human rights and humanitarian law violations to justice. The
Government of Sudan has failed to carry out its obligations in
this respect.

The UN and AU have also worked together to further the
Darfur peace process. The Secretary General and the AU
Commission Chair each appointed a Special Envoy to lead
the peace process, supported by a Joint Mediation Support
Team comprised of individuals from both organizations. We
are highly appreciative of the efforts of these two
Special Envoys and their staff to advance peace in
Darfur. At this crucial juncture in the process, however,
we support the Envoys in their view that it is time for
the UN and AU to appoint a single Joint Chief Mediator.
This is an urgent and important next step in moving the
Darfur peace process forward, and one which we hope will
take place very soon.

The challenges that remain for Sudan and the region are
daunting. Our organizations and member states must forge
ahead strongly to continue with the provision of
humanitarian aid, implement the CPA, fully deploy UNAMID,
and make progress on the peace process. Thank you."

End briefing.


3. Begin points for discussion on role of the UN in
strengthening the AU:

ON THE ROLE OF REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN MAINTAINING
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

-- The United States agrees with the Secretary General in
his report of March 24 that there is a lot of ambiguity
about what role regional organizations should be taking in
the maintenance in international peace and security.
However, it should always be remembered that first and
foremost the role of maintaining international peace and
security lies with the Security Council. This certainly
does not mean that the Security Council needs to be
involved in the resolution of every conflict. Regional
Organizations can and do get involved in conflict
prevention, resolution, and post-conflict recovery. Two
recent examples in an African context are the AU's
handling of the crisis in Kenya and the Comoros. In
Kenya, the AU Panel of Eminent Personalities, led by
former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, did a superb job
in bringing both sides of the dispute to the table to work
out a political compromise. Due to the AU's efforts the
crisis was resolved before it could escalate into a
situation requiring the AU Peace and Security Council and
the UN Security Council intervention. In the Comoros,
certain AU member states recently sent military forces to
the island of Anjuoan to oust rebel leader Mohamed Bacar.
The successful intervention took place with little
bloodshed. It was undertaken at the invitation of the
government of Comoros and without an AU PSC mandate.

-- Some members have expressed a view that when regional
or sub-regional organizations deploy a peacekeeping force
that they are doing so on behalf of the international
community, particularly the Security Council, and should
be reimbursed for their efforts by the UN. The United
States disagrees with this view. Even if the Security
Council approves a mandate for a peacekeeping operation by
a regional organization, it does not imply in any way that
the UN has committed or is obligated to pay for such an
operation be it KFOR in Kosovo, MNF-I in Iraq, or AMISOM
in Somalia. Our view is that there are important legal
and practical considerations that prevent the UN from
paying for the costs of other organizations conducting
peacekeeping operations and that we must respect these
constraints. Of course, the Security Council has and
should continue to look for creative ways that the UN can
help with regional efforts-- such as encouraging donors in
voluntary funding efforts, and through practical
assistance the UN secretariat can offer on command and
control, logistical management and other areas. On a
bilateral basis, the U.S. very much appreciates the role
many regional organizations are playing in deploying
peacekeeping operations to conflict areas around the
world. We generously fund many of them on a voluntary,
bilateral basis. These regional and sub-regional
organizations often deploy peacekeeping missions because
it is in their own best interest to prevent instability
from spreading, and we should help and encourage them to
develop further their capabilities in this regard.
Instability in one country can easily spread to
instability in another. Local regional organizations have
a vested interest in making sure this does not happen.

ON THE SECRETARY GENERAL'S RECOMMENDATION OF A PANEL TO
CONSIDER FUNDING MECHANISMS TO THE AU

-- The United States realizes that the African Union lacks
the financial capabilities to carry out extensive
peacekeeping operations. It is for this reason that the
United States has given so much bilaterally to assist AU
peacekeeping missions, including providing $57 million to
AMISOM over the last two years and over $450 million to
AMIS over its lifetime. We welcome the exploration of
ways to address the financial challenges faced by regional
peacekeeping missions. In this regard, we support the
establishment of a panel of distinguished persons from the
African Union, the United Nations, and other relevant
stakeholders to seek alternative, cost-effective means of
financial support, such as the establishment of a trust
fund or enhanced donor coordination.

-- We need to remember that the AU's lack of financial
capacity is only one of several challenges these AU
peacekeeping missions face. The UN and international
community need to also investigate ways to help the AU
build up its military planning, logistical, and
administrative capacities, including the need to establish
better financial accountability and transparency
mechanisms for peacekeeping operations.

ON THE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATION BETWEEN
THE AU AND THE UN

-- The United States notes with interest the many
recommendations made by the Secretary General on effective
ways to strengthen cooperation between the AU and the UN
in his March 24 report. We were very pleased to hear of
the many programs the UN already has established to
strengthen cooperation between the UN and regional
organizations, most of which are being funded within
existing resources. Some examples of this cooperation are
the desk-to-desk exchanges and the holding of various
training sessions by the UN Department of Political
Affairs for the secretariat staff of the AU Peace and
Security Council.

-- The AU has identified its need to increase
administrative, logistical, and military planning
capacities as well as improve financial management and
transparency mechanisms. In response, the U.S. has
substantial programs to assist these efforts and has
provided significant support in the form of logistical
support and technical expertise to the African Standby
Force, the AU Commission's emerging Strategic Planning and
Management Unit, and the AU's Situation Room. The United
States continues to provide significant logistical
capability in support of both UN and AU peacekeeping
efforts in Africa through the provision of strategic lift
of TCC units into theater, including Darfur and Somalia.
We are prepared to work with the AU and other regional
organizations to further enhance their capacity, and we
call on other countries to step up their bilateral support
as well. In our opinion, the UN and the international
community should prioritize its efforts to help the AU
enhance its financial management and establish clear
standards for financial transparency. Such improvements
will raise donor countries' confidence and lead to more
support for AU missions such as AMISOM.

-- We are pleased that the newly established African Union
Peacekeeping Support Team, part of the UN Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, is focusing its efforts on
improving mission planning, mission management, logistics
and resource management for AU peacekeeping operations.

-- On cooperation between the AU and UN on conflict
prevention and mediation, we are pleased with the efforts
of DPA's Mediation Support Unit (MSU) to offer support to
the AU and other regional organizations, including efforts
to assist the AU in developing an operational plan for the
Panel of the Wise. We also note the MSU has held several
consultations around the world to assist regional
organizations with their mediation capacity.

ON COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION MECHANISMS BETWEEN THE SC
AND AU PSC

-- We agree with the SYG's recommendation to extend
desk-to-desk dialogues on conflict prevention to the
African Union. This exchange has worked well with other
regional organizations such as the UN-EU desk-to-desk
exchanges.

-- The United States supports the continued implementation
of the 10-Year Capacity-Building Program for the AU,
especially in areas of peace and security. We commend
DPA, the UN Liaison Office in Addis Ababa and the AU
Regional Consultative Mechanism for the work they have
done on the issue thus far.

-- On the issue of formal meetings between the two
bodies. The United States agrees that given the number of
conflicts and the disposition of UN peacekeeping forces, the
UNSC and the AU
PSC should continue to meet once a year to review
conflicts in Africa and UN-AU cooperation, as long as the heavy
concentration of UN activity in Africa persists, but meetings
with other regional partners should happen on an ad
hoc basis as circumstances require.

-- The United States supports the SYG recommendation of
sending a follow-up mission of UN Secretariat Staff to the
AU to provide further assistance and share experiences in
institutional memory-building and supporting a training
program for AU PSC secretariat staff on the challenges of
implementing sanctions and/or other restrictive measures.

-- We applaud the formation of the UN DPKO - AU Peace
Support Team and its work in the areas of mission planning
and management of logistics and resources.

ON PEACEKEEPING IN GENERAL

-- The UN peacekeeping infrastructure is overstretched--
in large part as a result of the extensive and
increasingly complex commitments on the African
continent. Sixty-three thousand of the 91,000 UN troops
currently deployed are serving in Africa and these numbers
will only increase as deployments in support of the UN/AU
Hybrid Operation in Darfur come to fruition. A possible UN
Operation in Somalia could involve the deployment of
thousands more. The bottom line is that the supply of
well-equipped peacekeepers does not meet demand, and we
must find ways to use existing resources effectively and
efficiently and build capacity -- particularly regional
capacity-- to do more.

-- The UN Security Council needs to reassess how we plan
for and sustain peacekeeping operations. Our peacekeeping
operations should be "goal-oriented" in nature, with
clearly defined missions, timelines and budgets. In some
cases, Somalia comes to mind, we should not let the
perfect be the enemy of the good. It may be that while we
cannot do the comprehensive 25,000 mission, we can put
together a smaller force that can provide reinforcement
for political consolidation. In our view, that is exactly
where we are heading in Somalia. Peacekeeping operations
need to be more carefully considered as a means to an end,
rather than a panacea for responding to conflicts or a
device to buy time. While we understand the risk of
leaving too soon, we should review peacekeeping operations
regularly to evaluate whether they are fulfilling their
mandates and meeting clearly defined benchmarks. We
should look toward downsizing missions and eventually
closing them as objectives are successfully achieved or it
becomes clear that the mission is no longer making a
meaningful contribution to the maintenance of peace and
security. This will encourage self-reliance and free up
forces and funds for where they are needed most -- places
like Darfur and Somalia, where we should consider creative
ways to collaborate with the AU.

end points


4. USUN is instructed to join consensus on the draft
UN-AU Communique listed below:

begin text

DRAFT JOINT COMMUNIQUE OF THE MEETING BETWEEN THE UN
SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY
COUNCIL.


1. Recalling that the Security Council has primary
responsibility for the maintenance of international peace
and security, and recalling the provisions of Chapter VIII
of the Charter of the United Nations on the relationship
with regional arrangements;


2. Recognizing that an effective relationship between the
United Nations and the African Union, in particular the
Security Council and the Peace and Security Council would,
contribute significantly towards addressing common peace
and security challenges and facilitate their resolution in
Africa;


3. Reaffirming the importance of the AU's role in the
maintenance of international peace and security in
accordance with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter and
Constitutive Act of the AU, the importance of
co-ordination between the UN and AU in pursuance of this
role and of making full use of the UN and AU's
complementary capacities and experience;


4. In that regard, underlining the importance of the
operationalization of the African Peace and Security
Architecture, especially the African Standby Force;


5. Recalling the Presidential Statements and decisions of
the Security Council and the Peace and Security Council on
the relationship between the two bodies;


6. Recalling also the joint Communiqu agreed by the UN
Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council on
11 June 2007;


7. At our second meeting, both Councils explored ways and
means of developing a stronger working relationship
between the two bodies, and following an exchange of views
expressed satisfaction with the ongoing efforts to
strengthen their relationship, through:

a) enhancing cooperation in the fields of conflict
prevention, management and resolution, including in
respect of issues such as the good offices of the
Secretary-General, mediation support, effective use of

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sanctions, early warning and support of the AU Panel of
the Wise; peacekeeping and peace building;

b) taking steps to identify predictable, sustainable and
flexible resources for the African Union, in order to
undertake peacekeeping operations in the context of
Chapter VIII of the UN Charter;

c) sharing of experiences on working methods between the
two structures;

d) Encouraging the implementation of the 10-Year Capacity
Building Programme for the AU, in particular between the
UN Secretariat and the AU Commission and looking forward
to the first review by the two organization of the
Programme;

e) discussing ways that the UNSC and the broader
international community can cooperate with the AU to
assist it in further developing its military planning,
technical, logistical, financial management and
administrative capacities, so that the AU is able to
conduct peacekeeping operations in the most effective,
transparent, and accountable manner; and

f) sharing information on African conflict situations on
the respective agendas of the two bodies, including but
not limited to Somalia; Sudan; Chad/CAR; Cote d'Ivoire,
Ethiopia/Eritrea; DRC and Kenya;


8. We re-affirm our determination to strengthen the AU
conflict prevention, management and resolution capacities
and post-conflict stabilization capacities, through:

a) assessing regularly the developments in the region;

b) supporting African regional and sub-regional capacities
for early warning to enable prompt response to early
warning indicators; and

c) supporting African Union capacities for mediation;


9. In this regard we welcome initiatives such as the
African Union Peacekeeping Support Team established by the
United Nations, the capacity building efforts undertaken
by the EU in the framework of the Africa-EU Strategic
Partnership, and other actions, including bilateral
initiatives in support of AU capacity-building that will
contribute, in a coordinated way to improvements in
mission planning and mission management;


10. We look forward to further discussions at our next
meeting in 2009.

New York
17th April 2008
RICE