China Says African Union Request For Adequate Peacekeeping Funding 'Legitimate' - UN Envoy

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 25, 2023 | 11:45 PM

The African Union's (AU) request for the United Nations to provide adequate funding for its peace support operations (PSO) is legitimate and reasonable, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said on Thursday

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2023) The African Union's (AU) request for the United Nations to provide adequate funding for its peace support operations (PSO) is legitimate and reasonable, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said on Thursday.

The UN Security Council met to discuss African Union-led peace support operations and related issues, notably those regarding their financing.

"In February this year, the AU summit adopted a consensus paper, stressing the need to provide AU PSO with adequate, predictable, and sustainable funding and calling for support from the UN. Aspirations of African countries in this regard are legitimate and reasonable and merit the great attention and active support from the international community," Zhang said during a UN Security Council meeting on peace and security in Africa.

Zhang stated that the principle of African-led solutions for African problems should be applied, and that all peacekeeping operations, their planning, mandating, deployment, and management, should be led by Africa.

China backs Africa in improving its peace support capacity and will support Africa in its quest for sustainable funding for AU peacekeeping operations.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country supports "in principle" the use of UN contributions for AU peace operations.

"We believe such contributions must be subject to Security Council authorization and the important conditions set forth in resolutions 2320 and 2378 and must be consistent with standards we apply to all UN peacekeeping missions," Thomas-Greenfield added.