VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #9501 2952341
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 222321Z OCT 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 109501 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC
SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL: US STATEMENT ON SYG REPORT ON 
SUPPORT TO AFRICAN UNION PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS 
AUTHORIZED BY THE UN 
 
¶1. (U) On October 26, 2009 the Security Council will discuss 
the Secretary General's September 18, 2009 report on Support 
to African Union peacekeeping operations authorized by the 
United Nations. USUN should draw on the building blocks in 
paragraph 2. 
 
¶2. (U) Begin building blocks: 
 
-- The United States welcomes this opportunity to discuss 
ways to deepen the peacekeeping partnership between the UN 
and the AU, a partnership that gives full play to the 
comparative strengths of each organization. We salute the 
many African countries that have contributed troops and have 
supported peace operations across the continent and beyond 
and welcome the continuing efforts of the African Union and 
its subregional organizations to settle conflicts on the 
African continent. 
 
-- We once again applaud the efforts of Mr. Prodi and the 
AU-UN panel and we appreciate the additional analysis of the 
recommendations provided by the Secretary-General in his 
recent report. We are in full agreement that there must be a 
more effective strategic relationship between the United 
Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and 
Security Council. We welcome the intensification of strategic 
cooperation and the creation of a more structured 
coordination mechanism between the UN Secretariat and the 
African Union Commission. 
 
-- We also welcome the intention of the African Union to 
develop a long-term, comprehensive capacity-building road-map 
in cooperation with the United Nations and international 
partners. We will continue to support the effort to enhance 
the AU Secretariat's capacity to plan, manage and sustain 
peacekeeping operations. 
 
-- We commend the AU initiative to take greater ownership of 
the effort to build an indigenous capacity to deal with the 
many humanitarian and security challenges facing the 
continent. This is especially important since more than 70 
percent of UN military personnel are currently deployed to 
missions in Africa. We note that Africa contributes 
approximately 43 percent of the forces in African missions 
and is undertaking a major deployment of over 5,100 personnel 
in Somalia.  The United States will continue to be an active 
and supportive partner for the effort to build Africa's 
capacity along the entire spectrum of peace operations and 
conflict management disciplines, including in the areas of 
mediation, crisis management, post-conflict reconstruction 
and the building of conflict prevention capabilities within 
civilian institutions and civil society. 
 
-- As President Obama emphasized during his meeting with top 
troop and police contributing countries this month, the 
United States is ready to do its part. We will consult even 
more closely and frequently with leading troop and police 
contributing countries and other peacekeeping partners. We 
will seek mandates that are matched with the capacity and 
resources of peacekeeping missions.  We will intensify 
efforts to mediate conflicts and revive flagging peace 
processes.  We will help the UN to mobilize critical enabling 
assets including medical, engineering, and transportation 
units, and we will devote attention to peace-building 
activities to help governments to allow for the responsible 
exit of peacekeepers. 
 
-- We will also continue to provide substantial bilateral 
assistance to our partners in the AU.  In this regard, I 
would like to note some of the efforts that we have made in 
the months following our most recent UNSC discussion on the 
subject of UN-AU peacekeeping on March 18: 
 
--Since March 2009, the United States through the Global 
Peace Operations Initiative's Africa Contingency Operations 
and Training Assistance (ACOTA) program has trained over 28 
battalions from 15 African countries amounting to over 23,000 
peacekeepers for deployment to peacekeeping missions in 
Africa.  Through this program we have also trained 
peacekeepers to fill critical staff specialty positions, to 
serve as instructors at the new Peace Mission Training Center 
and for duty in the ECOWAS Standby Brigade. 
 
--In addition to our ACOTA program, my government has 
provided significant equipment packages to African troop 
contributing countries. The US government provided support to 
AMISOM including just under $20 million in equipment packages 
for augmentation battalions from Burundi and Uganda. 
 
--The USG will continue to provide equipment support to the 
Ugandan and Burundian units serving in AMISOM, including a 
package of 72 urgently needed armored vehicles at a cost of 
approximately $20 million. 
 
--The USG has trained and equipped several battalions for 
service in Darfur, including units from Burkina Faso, 
Ethiopia and Tanzania (with support from the UK). 
Additionally, we continue to support the presence of peace 
and security advisors at the AU's Strategic Planning and 
Management Unit and at the ECOWAS headquarters. 
 
-- This assistance underscores that the United States is 
committed to supporting the development of the AU's 
peacekeeping capabilities.  We are encouraged by the progress 
made to date but we know that there is much more to be done. 
We also recognize the need for secure and stable funding for 
AU peacekeeping, and I want to stress that our bilateral 
engagement and support will continue.  We call on other 
donors to continue financial support to develop African 
peacekeeping either bilaterally, through trust funds, and 
other mechanisms. We will seek to ensure that future 
peacekeeping mandates need to match our resources as well as 
our ambitions.  We also call on donors to coordinate more 
closely, particularly in the area of administrative reporting 
and accounting requirements, so that the AU Secretariat is 
not overwhelmed with accommodating different requirements for 
each donor. 
 
END BUILDING BLOCKS 
CLINTON