• The Peace and Security Council is the decision-making organ of the AU for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
• The collective security and early warning arrangement is intended to facilitate timely and efficient responses to conflict and crisis situations in Africa
Image: REUTERS
Kenya is pushing to boost its influence at the UN Security Council.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to chair a series of meetings in which Tunisia, Niger and Kenya (A3) seek to increase their roles in the UNSC.
This comes as Kenya is scheduled to take over the rotational chairmanship of the African Union Peace and Security Council for the month of March 2021.
The Peace and Security Council is the decision-making organ of the AU on prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
The collective security and early warning arrangement is intended to facilitate timely and efficient responses to conflict and crises in Africa.
Kenya, as the incoming chair, plans a series of activities, including reinvigorating the role of the A3 in the UN Security Council.
Other activities include an open session on women, peace, culture and gender inclusivity in Africa and a field visit to South Sudan.
“In realising the above, Kenya will be working together with like-minded states to promote peace, security, sovereignty and territorial integrity; strengthen its engagement and diplomatic representation; and project its image internationally, especially through a multilateral system,” read the draft.
Nairobi argues that Africa is numerically significant at the UNSC. It said that in 2018, over 50 per cent of UNSC meetings, 60 per cent of its outcome documents, and 70 per cent of its resolutions concerned African peace and security issues.
“African states comprise nearly 28 per cent of the UN’s overall membership, providing significant regional political backing to the A3. The synergy and coordination, the A3 has recorded significant achievement,” reads the draft.
“The A3 bloc plays a critical role in shaping Security Council debates, breaking geopolitical deadlock, and guiding the Council’s collective action. African unity is essential towards achieving these efforts."
Nairobi said the A3 members can show such unity through a range of approaches like issuing joint statements to the Council, defining joint negotiating positions for Council outcome documents, and convening joint press stakeouts to deliver key messages to the general public.
“The role played by the AU permanent observer mission to the UN is of particular importance, as it can help to coordinate A3 and AU engagements, facilitate regular interactions with diplomats and officials in Addis Ababa, and retain institutional memory of both the AU and the UN,” the draft reads.
“Unified A3 positions on African files are strengthened particularly when informed by decisions of the AU Peace and Security Council, as they provide legitimacy, credibility, and leverage in A3 engagements with other Council members.
"Even though each A3 member on its own has limited influence in the UN Security Council, a unified A3 bloc particularly when backed by positions endorsed by the wider membership of the AU is able to strongly influence Council outcomes."
The meeting will deliberate on ways of building on the success of the unity of A3 and enhance its work.
This includes Kenya's increased influence, enhanced consensus in A3 and greater collaboration with the sixth region (the Caribbean’s) in matters pertaining to climate change and Covid-19.
The activities are expected to run from March 4 to March 30 when the Peace and Security Council will visit South Sudan to monitor the progress made by the government in relation to the revitalised Peace Agreement.
According to the draft, President Uhuru Kenyatta will chair a heads-of-state meeting, with a focus on climate change, emerging trends of terrorism, effects of climate change on terrorism and their role in securing sustainable peace.
With a focus on South Sudan, the meeting is expected to provide an update on the overall political situation and the evolution of the transition, including the peace process launched following the establishment of the transitional government.
Kenya will also lead discussions on peacekeeping in Africa, emerging challenges and critical lessons for sustainable peacekeeping operations
The objective of the meeting is to restore peace and order while respecting human rights during peacekeeping missions and extrapolating some of the lessons learnt. It will also discuss challenges and missed opportunities of the peacekeeping missions, experiences of the UN, the PSC and Hybrid missions in Africa and some of the critical lessons that have emerged from TCCs.
The expected outcome of the meeting is mobilising support for the Amisom, validating the role of peacekeeping in African and lobbying for support of such missions.
Nairobi said funding AU-led peace support initiatives remains the main constraint to AU activities, thus the regional body opts for hybrid systems and partnership with the UN.