The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution led by Ghana, emphasizing support and funding for operations addressing threats to international peace and security in Africa.
This Peace Support funding model goes beyond traditional UN peacekeeping operations.
Under the resolution, AU-led peace support operations mandated by the UN Security Council will receive up to 75% of their annual budgets from UN assessed contributions.
The remaining amount will be jointly mobilized by the UN and the African Union from the international community as extra-budgetary resources.
The Council commits to considering viable options in case of significant shortfalls in resource mobilization. Ghana submitted the resolution with other African countries on the Security Council.
The goal is to change the traditional response to peace and security in Africa, especially concerning violent extremism and terrorism. Ghana aims to achieve these goals within its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The resolution emphasizes addressing socio-economic and climatic root causes of conflicts in addition to military operations.
“The dramatic outcome of the complex and difficult negotiations comes 10 days before the end of Ghana’s term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council,“ said the release.
ECOWAS and regional security initiatives, such as the Accra Initiative and the Multi National Joint Task Force, may benefit from the resources and international support to combat terrorism and violent extremism in the ECOWAS region.
“When Ghana announced its priorities at the beginning of its term in January 2022 to secure agreement of the Security Council to change its traditional response to international peace and security, especially in Africa, where violent extremism and terrorism had overtaken traditional conflicts that attracted UN peacekeeping, many had expressed skepticism.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, declared the adoption of the resolution as a great day for Africa and diplomacy.
“Attempts in the past to agree on the use of UN assessed contributions to support African-led operations had failed in the face of opposition from some Permanent Members of the Council and other large contributors to the UN.”
The resolution aims to end threats to international peace and security in the region and promote peace, stability, and progress through successful peace support operations.
“One key objective was to starve terrorists of conditions for radicalisation and recruitment from vulnerable communities,” the release emphasised.
“With the adoption of the framework resolution, it is understood that the plans of ECOWAS and relevant security initiatives in our region, such as the Accra Initiative and the Multi National Joint Task Force, battling Boko Haram, will potentially benefit from the needed resources and international support to defeat terrorism and violent extremism in the ECOWAS region.”
“Working with our partners around the world, we have taken a giant step to end the many threats to international peace and security in our region.
“Our people deserve the peace, stability and progress that successful peace support operations will bring. The distractions to our regional integration project and the pressure on development resources from our security needs would ease as we go forward.
“I congratulate President Akufo-Addo for his leadership. I also commend our team in NewYork, my own Ministry and the Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on the United Nations Security Council, which I set up to advise me.”