PRESS RELEASE

Ethiopia assumed the presidency of the Security Council on 1^st September 2017. One of Ethiopia’s priorities during its membership of the United Nations Security Council has been strengthening the partnership between the UN and the African Union in the area of peace and security and during its presidency of the Council, Ethiopia will highlight this issue. This emanates from the growing recognition that a stronger global-regional partnership is needed to effectively respond to the peace and security challenges and threats of our time and improve our collective security.

On this basis, Ethiopia will be leading the UNSC delegation, which will participate at the 11^th Annual Joint Consultative Meeting with the AUPSC, scheduled to take place on 7^th and 8^th September 2017 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As president of the Security Council, Ethiopia will Co-Chair this meeting together with the current chairperson of the AUPSC.

The annual Consultation will be held after the Joint United Nations-African Union Framework for Enhanced Partnership that the Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat signed on 19^th April 2017, which is a clear testament of the two organizations’ renewed commitment to work together to, among other things, address common challenges of peace and security on the African continent.

The Security Council, on numerous occasions, has reiterated its commitment to the cooperation between the United Nations and regional and sub-regional organizations in relation to the maintenance of international peace and security, consistent with Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations.

In addition to the AU-UN partnership, African issues, such as Somalia, South Sudan and the Lake Chad region, will be considered during the month, along with other issues of international peace and security that the Council has been seized with.

The highlight of the Presidency will be the High-Level Open Debate on the reform of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations scheduled to be held on 20^th September 2017. This debate will be chaired by H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and is expected to be attended by Heads of State and Government as well as other High Level officials and members of the Security Council and the wider membership of the United Nations. The open debate will focus on recommendations from the previous Secretary-General and on the reform process initiated by the current Secretary-General.

Ethiopia is the largest African contributor to UN peacekeeping forces and the second largest contributor in the world with some 12,968 peacekeepers dispatched all over the world.

As the leading Troop Contributing Country to United Nations peacekeeping, Ethiopia attaches great importance to the reform and strengthening of UN Peacekeeping so that it may be fit to address the challenges of the 21^st century.

Background

Ethiopia’s two-year term in the Security Council as a non-permanent member started on 1^st January 2017 alongside Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Italy. It is to be recalled that Ethiopia served on the Council as an elected member twice, in 1967 and ’68, and in 1989 and ’90.

Ethiopia, as host to the headquarters of the African Union and the Chair of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has been playing an important role in promoting the peace and stability of the region and the continent.

Ethiopia chairs the Security Council’s Ad-Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa and in its activities in the Council, Ethiopia tries to play a constructive role in finding peace in conflict-affected countries and areas and in contributing to help address global problems such as terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and the international refugee crisis.

The United Nations will not be able to handle today’s peace and security challenges alone and in the spirit of chapter VIII of the UN Charter, Ethiopia advocates for greater strategic coherence between regional mechanisms, such as the African Union and in addressing today’s peace and security challenges.

—ENDS—

Source: Permanent Mission of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the United Nations

For updates, please follow Ethiopia at the UN on Twitter and Facebook.

Contact: Biruk Mekonnen (ethiopia@un.int)