UNOAU facilitates monthly coordination meeting between AUPSC Chair and UNSC President for May 2022

13 May 2022

UNOAU facilitates monthly coordination meeting between AUPSC Chair and UNSC President for May 2022

On 13 May, UNOAU, in coordination with the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) Secretariat, facilitated the monthly coordination meeting for the month of May between the President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the UN, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Chair of the AUPSC, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cameroon to the AU and Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Churchill Ewumbue-Monono.

Ambassador Churchill Ewumbue-Monono briefed on the AUPSC’s program of work for May, and noted that the PSC meetings would focus on humanitarian action and governance-related issues, in preparation for the AU Extraordinary Summit on humanitarian action, unconstitutional changes of government and terrorism, scheduled to take place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 27-28 May. In addition to meetings held on the state of humanitarian actions in Africa and separately on the situation in the Horn of Africa (4 May); Transnational Organized Crimes and Security in Africa (6 May); and food security and conflict in Africa (9 May),  the Ambassador informed that upcoming sessions would include a meeting on living together in peace (17 May); Disarmament and Control of Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons in Africa (18 May); an update on the situation in the Lake Chad Basin (31 May); a training of the Committee of Experts (12-15 May); a Military Staff Committee meeting to conduct an evaluation of the Continental Logistics Base in Douala, Cameroon (19 May).

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield briefed on the UNSC’s program of work, noting that food security was also a very important topic for the UNSC. She informed that the UNSC would hold an event on conflict and food security (19 May) and that the Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, would host a ministerial session on the same topic (18 May). She noted that food security had been a longstanding issue on the UNSC’s agenda, but that the urgency of this topic had been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. She briefed on her meeting with the Permanent Representative of Ukraine, who informed her that Ukraine held years of food supplies that could be put on the market, if the ability to export would not be blocked by the current conflict. She further informed that another event would be held on the role of digital technologies in peace and security (23 May), and an annual debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict (25 May) covering issues related to the denial of humanitarian access, and the impact of war on civilian populations. She underlined her close collaboration with the A3 and noted that she would welcome any suggestions for an improved relationship between the UNSC and the AUPSC.

Ambassador Ewumbue-Monono welcomed the UNSC’s focus on food security, noting that food insecurity was not only a problem for Ukraine, but that it also presented a big challenge for the whole of Africa. He informed that the situation in Ukraine was being handled at the level of the AU bureau, and that it currently was not included in the AUPSC’s agenda. He underscored the importance of the UNSC’s meeting on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, noting that the AUPSC’s meeting on 4 May also discussed the same. Discussing ways of improving the coordination between the two Councils, he noted that during the AUPSC’s meeting on Transnational Organized Crimes, it was noted that the AUPSC sub-committee on counterterrorism needed to be further operationalized. This could represent an opportunity to re-energize the cooperation with the UNSC sub-committee on counterterrorism.