Credit:  Gary Raynaldo /  Jerry Matthews Matjila,  Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of South African to the United Nations, speaks at International Peace Institute in Manhattan, NY  Nov. 7, 2019. 

By Gary Raynaldo  /   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

NEW YORK – The United Nations and the African Union (AU) have worked in tandem since the AU’s establishment in 2002.  The International  Peace Institute (IPI) together with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) co-hosted a policy forum this month entitled “Toward a More Effective UN-AU Partnership on Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management.”  The  policy forum discussed the evolution of the strategic partnership between the UN and the AU, with a specific focus on how they undertake conflict prevention and crisis management efforts.   According to Daniel Forti, IPI Policy Analyst,  the AU-UN partnership growth since 2007 is noteworthy, but still defined by an overriding tension:  the 2 councils are increasingly interdependent, but remain locked in a relationship fundamentally unequal in terms of powers, authority, resources, and political status.  Many challenges remain in the AU-UN partnership.

“If you look at the African continent, you can see that there are spheres of peace emerging. How do we grow this peace? The answer is involving the women and youth.”

-Jerry Matthews Matjila,  Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of South African to the United Nations.

SOUTH AFRICA   took over the rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of October.  South  Africa’s ambassador Matjila  presided as President at the Security Council for the month of October.

 “We chose 3 pillars of our presidency,” with a focus on living out Nelson Mandela’s legacy for a peaceful world,  Ambassador Matjila said.

The policy forum also launched a Research Report produced jointly by IPI and ISS as part of their project on the UN-AU partnership in peace and security.

Credit:  Gary Raynaldo  /  (LEFT)  H.E. Ms. Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the UN  and    Ms. Bintou Keita, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, United Nations Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, at  IPI Forum in New York Nov. 7, 2019.

“How can we strike a balance between role of the UN Security Council in the maintenance of peace and security and  the ability of the AU to develop its own capacity and take its own action? We have yet to find a clear answer.”

Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the UN.

Mohammed added:  “Implementation is what really matters. Post-adoption is where the work starts.” She laid out four key points:

(1)Must Ensure cooperation in a systematic manner

(2) Enhance council-to-council beyond annual meeting

(3) Lack of joint response

(4) We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.