SECURITY COUNCIL: US STATEMENT ON SYG REPORT ON

UNCLAS STATE 109501

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC
SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL: US STATEMENT ON SYG REPORT ON
SUPPORT TO AFRICAN UNION PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
AUTHORIZED BY THE UN


1. (U) On October 26, 2009 the Security Council will discuss
the Secretary General's September 18, 2009 report on Support
to African Union peacekeeping operations authorized by the
United Nations. USUN should draw on the building blocks in
paragraph 2.


2. (U) Begin building blocks:

-- The United States welcomes this opportunity to discuss
ways to deepen the peacekeeping partnership between the UN
and the AU, a partnership that gives full play to the
comparative strengths of each organization. We salute the
many African countries that have contributed troops and have
supported peace operations across the continent and beyond
and welcome the continuing efforts of the African Union and
its subregional organizations to settle conflicts on the
African continent.

-- We once again applaud the efforts of Mr. Prodi and the
AU-UN panel and we appreciate the additional analysis of the
recommendations provided by the Secretary-General in his
recent report. We are in full agreement that there must be a
more effective strategic relationship between the United
Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and
Security Council. We welcome the intensification of strategic
cooperation and the creation of a more structured
coordination mechanism between the UN Secretariat and the
African Union Commission.

-- We also welcome the intention of the African Union to
develop a long-term, comprehensive capacity-building road-map
in cooperation with the United Nations and international
partners. We will continue to support the effort to enhance
the AU Secretariat's capacity to plan, manage and sustain
peacekeeping operations.

-- We commend the AU initiative to take greater ownership of
the effort to build an indigenous capacity to deal with the
many humanitarian and security challenges facing the
continent. This is especially important since more than 70
percent of UN military personnel are currently deployed to
missions in Africa. We note that Africa contributes
approximately 43 percent of the forces in African missions
and is undertaking a major deployment of over 5,100 personnel
in Somalia. The United States will continue to be an active
and supportive partner for the effort to build Africa's
capacity along the entire spectrum of peace operations and
conflict management disciplines, including in the areas of
mediation, crisis management, post-conflict reconstruction
and the building of conflict prevention capabilities within
civilian institutions and civil society.

-- As President Obama emphasized during his meeting with top
troop and police contributing countries this month, the
United States is ready to do its part. We will consult even
more closely and frequently with leading troop and police
contributing countries and other peacekeeping partners. We
will seek mandates that are matched with the capacity and
resources of peacekeeping missions. We will intensify
efforts to mediate conflicts and revive flagging peace
processes. We will help the UN to mobilize critical enabling
assets including medical, engineering, and transportation
units, and we will devote attention to peace-building
activities to help governments to allow for the responsible
exit of peacekeepers.

-- We will also continue to provide substantial bilateral
assistance to our partners in the AU. In this regard, I
would like to note some of the efforts that we have made in
the months following our most recent UNSC discussion on the
subject of UN-AU peacekeeping on March 18:

--Since March 2009, the United States through the Global
Peace Operations Initiative's Africa Contingency Operations
and Training Assistance (ACOTA) program has trained over 28
battalions from 15 African countries amounting to over 23,000
peacekeepers for deployment to peacekeeping missions in
Africa. Through this program we have also trained
peacekeepers to fill critical staff specialty positions, to
serve as instructors at the new Peace Mission Training Center
and for duty in the ECOWAS Standby Brigade.

--In addition to our ACOTA program, my government has
provided significant equipment packages to African troop
contributing countries. The US government provided support to
AMISOM including just under $20 million in equipment packages
for augmentation battalions from Burundi and Uganda.

--The USG will continue to provide equipment support to the
Ugandan and Burundian units serving in AMISOM, including a
package of 72 urgently needed armored vehicles at a cost of
approximately $20 million.

--The USG has trained and equipped several battalions for
service in Darfur, including units from Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia and Tanzania (with support from the UK).
Additionally, we continue to support the presence of peace
and security advisors at the AU's Strategic Planning and
Management Unit and at the ECOWAS headquarters.

-- This assistance underscores that the United States is
committed to supporting the development of the AU's
peacekeeping capabilities. We are encouraged by the progress
made to date but we know that there is much more to be done.
We also recognize the need for secure and stable funding for
AU peacekeeping, and I want to stress that our bilateral
engagement and support will continue. We call on other
donors to continue financial support to develop African
peacekeeping either bilaterally, through trust funds, and
other mechanisms. We will seek to ensure that future
peacekeeping mandates need to match our resources as well as
our ambitions. We also call on donors to coordinate more
closely, particularly in the area of administrative reporting
and accounting requirements, so that the AU Secretariat is
not overwhelmed with accommodating different requirements for
each donor.

END BUILDING BLOCKS
CLINTON