On 4 May, in continuation of his courtesy visits to Ambassadors and AU Permanent Representatives, UNOAU SRSG Parfait Onanga-Anyanga met with the Permanent Representative (PR) of the Republic of Cameroon, Ambassador Churchill Ewumbue-Monono. He congratulated Ambassador Ewumbue-Monono for his chairpersonship of the AUPSC for the month of May. He noted that the chairpersonship of Cameroon coincided with several international events being marked during the month of May, including Labour Day, World Press Freedom Day and the African World Heritage Day, in addition to the upcoming midterm AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on 26 May. He reiterated the UN Secretary-General’s vision for the partnership, which recognizes that “Africa leads, and the UN supports”.  He reassured the PR that the UN was committed to strengthening its partnership with the AU and the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) to prevent conflicts in Africa and support pending transitions through return to constitutional rule. 

Ambassador Ewumbue-Monono elaborated on some of the Agenda items of the PSC for the month of May as well as on Cameroon’s priorities. He stressed that Cameroon, during its chairpersonship, was interested to discuss the subject of food security and conflicts in Africa in line with the AU theme of the year “Building Resilience in Nutrition on the African Continent: Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development” noting that food insecurity in Africa had been exacerbated by the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine. He further explained that the AU mid-term summit in Malabo would focus on terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government and would revive the discussion on the Civil Military Relations (CMR) with reference to the Lomé Convention. In his response, SRSG Onanga-Anyanga commended the strategic collaboration between the AU and the UN within the context of the Joint UN-AU Framework for an enhanced partnership. With regards to the Council to Council collaboration, the SRSG envisaged that the meeting between the President of the UN Security Council and the Chairperson of the AU Peace and Security Council planned for the month of May would go beyond reiterating their various agenda items and engage in substantive areas of collaboration.