Now that I am about to leave UNOAU to take on a new assignment, this edition gives me an opportunity to reflect on the work of our office over the last three years, and express my appreciation for the support and goodwill of colleagues within the UN, the AU and our Partners all of whom supported the implementation of our mandate.

After the announcement of my appointment by Secretary-General António Guterres as Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union (AU) and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union on 10 December 2018, I deployed to Addis Ababa and started work on 2 January 2019. My first priority was to strengthen the working relationship with our principal partner, the African Union, and establish the role of the Office as an effective primary interlocutor in enhancing collaboration and active engagement between the UN and the AU through the agreed joint mechanisms established in the Joint Framework Agreement on Peace and Security signed in 2017, and also through regular consultations with the leadership of the AUC, and members of the PSC. I have met with the senior leadership of the AUC frequently, starting with the Chairperson on 11 January 2019 and worked closely with the AUC senior leadership team to achieve this objective. I am grateful to all of them for their readiness to engage, and their commitment to making the partnership substantive and effective. I believe our efforts which were aimed at ensuring greater cooperation and convergence in the peace and security responses of the work of our two organizations on the African continent have been largely successful.

From the onset it was clear to me that there was the need to build a strong working relationship with the members of Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) and the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (AUPRC). I appreciate all the interactions that I was fortunate to have which were both formal and informal discussions with Permanent Representatives of AU Member States to the African Union and for their willingness to speak openly and frankly while expressing their views on working with the UN in an effort to resolve our continent’s peace and security challenges. I am also grateful to the Permanent Representatives of non-AU member states to the African Union for their engagement, cooperation and goodwill. Under my leadership UNOAU also prioritized strengthening collaboration between the African Union, United Nations and Regional Economic Commissions/Regional Mechanisms (REC’s/RM’s) across the conflict cycle, and to that end has worked strengthen triangular AU-RECs-UN collaboration. Joint technical level missions have been undertaken to headquarters of the ECOWAS, ECCAS, SADC and the EAC during which discussions on strengthening programmatic initiatives were held.

Additionally, I felt it was important that within the context of the AU/UN partnership to prioritize working with the African Union on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in accordance with UNSCR 1325 and its follow on resolutions. In this connection, the Office has worked closely with the Office of the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, the Gender Directorate of the AUC, UN-DPPA, the Office of the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict as well as with other UN headquarters entities to support greater participation of women in peace processes, including through induction programs for the Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (Femwise-Africa), the training of women peacekeepers, and support to the African Women leadership Network (AWLN) mentorship and communications/branding initiatives. I would especially like to appreciate the work of colleagues both in the AU and UNOAU that led to the publication of “She stands for Peace” profiling the work of many brave and committed women in the continent engaged in peacebuilding efforts, and the development of the “She stands for Peace” Podcast series. The Office also assisted in the development of a harmonized training package on gender-based violence (GBV) and undertook a training of trainers programme for AU Peace Support Operations (PSOs). UNOAU working with Resident Coordinators in the region, also facilitated the joint high-level solidarity missions on women and peace and security to the Horn of Africa led by the Deputy Secretary-General in 2019 aimed highlighting women’s achievements in peace, security and development and reaffirmed the need to fully implement the women and peace and security agenda.

My tenure at UNOAU has coincided with the most active years in the ongoing AU restructuring and reform process. The new departmental structure, which merged the departments of political affairs and peace and security – UNOAU’s main interlocutors, has allowed for more seamless engagement with the AUC across the conflict cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic did initially create challenges in our efforts to engage with AUC counterparts both formally and informally. Just over a year after assuming my responsibilities, the pandemic made it imperative for the Office to implement a Business Continuity Plan, which involved remote working, and which resulted in having a number of colleagues work from outside the duty station. That notwithstanding I appreciate the commitment of colleagues to still maintain the same level of engagement and ensure that we were able to implement the key tasks necessary to the implementation of our mandate.

On the matter of the implementation UNOAU’s mandate, my view was that it was imperative to prioritize efforts to reinforce strategic coherence, political cooperation and institutional partnership between the UN and AU. Whenever our office was invited to brief the AUPSC on particular peace and security challenges, I always made sure to be available to provide such briefs in person. UNOAU colleagues working with the AUC have provided technical support and assistance to the relevant AU departments when requested and have facilitated the monthly information exchange meetings between the incoming Chairperson of the AUPSC and the President of the UN Security Council. The Office also issues a weekly information circular to inform members of the AUPSC of briefings, resolutions and developments in the Security Council.

Regarding engagements with other partners in support of the AU, very early in my tenure there was the establishment of the Group of Friends of the UN-AU Partnership in Addis Ababa which included both AU and non-AU member states, and as an office UNOAU worked with the members of the Group of Friends and AU counterparts to support efforts to promote a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities regarding our collective peacebuilding efforts. A corresponding group was established in New York on 20 April 2019. The main objective of the initiative is to strengthen the collaborative approach of the Member States of the UN and AU with regard to issues of peace and security as well as development, as articulated in the two Joint Frameworks on Peace and Security, and on Development, signed in 2017 and 2018 respectively between the two Organizations.

Our efforts and promoting a greater understanding of the peace and security challenges on the continent would not have been complete without the support and engagement of the office with Thinks Tanks and Research organizations that had prioritized the study and analysis of the peace and security challenges of the continent. We established partnerships through the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Amani Africa, and I would like to thank the leadership of these organizations for sharing their research and insights into the dynamics of the  peace and security challenges on the continent and broadening the scope for support to the AU, while also providing forums for informal discussions that influence wider opinion among the diplomatic community in Addis Ababa and beyond. Overall, the UN-AU partnership in peace and security is on a firm footing and continues to grow both in scope and depth and I trust that with the support and commitment of our key stakeholders this will continue to be the case going forward.