SECRETARY-GENERAL, ADDRESSING SECURITY COUNCIL ON "UN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA", OFFERS PRESCRIPTION FOR MORE EFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT IN CONTINENT

Press Release
SG/SM/7261
SC/6772

SECRETARY-GENERAL, ADDRESSING SECURITY COUNCIL ON ‘UN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA’, OFFERS PRESCRIPTION FOR MORE EFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT IN CONTINENT

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the open meeting of the Security Council on “the United Nations partnership with Africa” on 15 December:

Let me first say how much I appreciate the sustained attention which both this Council and the General Assembly are giving to African issues. If meetings alone could solve problems, I believe all Africa's problems would have been solved by now.

Alas, that is very far from being the case. Which is why I appreciate even more, Mr. President, the effort you have made to give this meeting a practical and operational character, aimed at making a difference not just in words but in action. As I told the General Assembly last week, the United Nations could hardly be any more broadly engaged in Africa than it is already. What we need now is to be engaged more effectively.

I also believe you are right to focus, in the first instance, on the need for better co-ordination between this Council, and regional and subregional organizations. This is particularly important in the area of peacekeeping. During this decade, peacekeeping has acquired a strong regional dimension, virtually wherever it has been practised. Asians and Australasians took the lead in Cambodia, as they are doing again in East Timor. Similarly, in Bosnia and Kosovo, peacekeeping has been seen as primarily a task for Europeans.

It is only natural that African States are expected to play a leading role in their own "backyards" -- and in many instances, they have risen bravely to the challenge. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) especially has made heroic efforts, in the extraordinarily difficult circumstances of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

What is not natural, or indeed fair, is to expect Africans to carry out these tasks without help. Even the Europeans, who are better equipped in so many respects, have had significant help from others in keeping the peace within their region. A region such as Africa is, therefore, even more entitled to expect help in strengthening the capacity of its regional and subregional institutions. This was a need, which I highlighted in my Report last year.

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We, in the Secretariat, are doing what we can. We have intensified our own cooperation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and are working especially closely with them in helping to implement the Lusaka Accord on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If the results have so far been disappointing, that is partly for lack of a clear will to implement the Accord among the parties. But it is also a question of resources. In these circumstances, there is always a tendency for ceasefires to break down and for the region to slide back into war.

That is why, Mr. President, the most immediate and practical decision I am looking for from this Council is to act promptly in the case of the DRC before the fragile ceasefire is further eroded.

But it is no less urgent that the necessary resources be made available to the Joint Military Commission to enable it to play the role foreseen for it under the Lusaka Accord. We have already convened two meetings with potential donors to highlight this need. We should now explore jointly with the Organization of African Unity how we can make the Joint Military Commission more effective, and align it more closely with the work of the peacekeepers. The same observation applies to the Economic Community of West African States’ Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG), which has done invaluable work in West Africa -- notably in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau.

But, at least, in the two former cases it has had to rely heavily on support from individual states in the region -- states whose peoples can ill afford such sacrifices. This Council should consider, as a matter of urgency, how such regional operations can be more fairly and efficiently financed. Indeed, I cannot too strongly emphasize the importance of ensuring that, wherever responsibility is assigned, adequate resources are also provided to carry out that responsibility.

In the case of Sierra Leone, I should like to emphasize that, as indicated in previous reports to the Council, the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) will require additional resources if Economic Community of West African States’ Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) confirms its expressed intention to withdraw all its troops from the country.

Regional and subregional organizations in Africa simply do not have those resources at present. They are obliged to finance their peacekeeping activities through trust funds, and regrettably, these trust funds do not attract donations on anything like the scale needed d. The United Nations itself is not much better placed when -- as is now so often the case -- we are told to finance our operations through voluntary contributions. I believe the increasing resort to this practice is contrary to the spirit of the Charter. It is also inefficient.

No organization can consistently deliver quality performance if it is obliged to live from hand to mouth. It should be one of the highest priorities of this Council to find better and more efficient ways of funding peacekeeping operations.

Mr. President, you asked what additional instruments the Council can bring to bear to help solve, and where possible prevent, conflicts in Africa.

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In suggesting a few such instruments, I have in mind, particularly, the need for the Council to show sustained and effective interest in African conflicts or potential conflicts, and to avoid giving the appearance of sporadic or purely rhetorical reactions to crises without any follow-up. It is vital that, once you have taken an initiative or passed a resolution, you remain fully engaged in following up and supporting its implementation.

-- One way of doing this would be to use contact groups of interested members who would undertake to follow through on proposed action on specific conflicts. A start has been made with the group following Somalia.

-- In some cases, it may be appropriate to establish a joint working group, bringing together members of the Council, the Secretariat and the relevant regional or subregional organization. This would be especially suitable, perhaps, when there is a need to ensure that decisions such as the deployment of peacekeeping troops are implemented with the minimum of delay.

-- A third kind of working group which can be useful is one that brings together members who are interested in a particular aspect of conflict prevention or containment, and who would accept a specific mandate to work with the Secretariat in following up some of your initiatives, with a clearly defined outcome in view. (The model here would be Ambassador Fowler's group, which has done excellent work tracking the economic resources that fuel certain conflicts and is looking for ways to enforce sanctions and embargoes once the Council has decided on them. Other problems, such as the traffic in small arms, would surely merit the same approach.)

-- Fourthly, you could consider holding meetings –- perhaps, alternately here at United Nations Headquarters and in appropriate places in Africa -- to establish closer and more regular contact between yourselves, and the Heads and staff of the various regional and subregional organizations.

In addition to these, I believe many of the ideas which emerged from last month's debate on conflict prevention may well be particularly useful in Africa -- for instance:

-- missions with clear goals undertaken by the Council itself, on the model of the mission to Jakarta and Dili last September;

-- preventive action by the Council in response to matters brought to its attention by States or by the Secretary-General, including, in some cases, preventive deployment of forces, with the consent of the host government; preventive disarmament; or the establishment of demilitarized zones;

-- and the improvement of regional capacities for early warning, as well as peacekeeping.

Mr. President, the suggestions I have made are not dramatic. But they could, if implemented consistently over time, make a real and perceptible difference in

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the quality of our work for peace and security in Africa. I offer them in the practical, down-to-earth spirit in which you have convened this meeting, and I look forward with great interest to hearing your own comments and suggestions, as well as those of other Council members.

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