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 �00A;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