Council
25 March 2007
Pretoria: South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will on
Wednesday, 28 March 2007, address the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on
the relationship between the UNSC and the African Union's (AU) Peace and
Security Council in conflict resolution.
Minister Dlamini Zuma will lead these discussions within the context of
South Africa's Presidency of the Security Council for the month of March 2007.
In this regard South Africa, in its capacity as President of the Security
Council, initiated the thematic debate on the relationship between the UNSC and
regional organisations including the AU's Peace and Security Council, in the
maintenance of international peace and security.
The debate is aimed at facilitating an exchange of views, obtaining new
perspectives and identifying potential areas in which this partnership between
the UN and regional organisations could be further explored particularly given
AU experiences in the field of conflict resolution, peacekeeping and post
conflict reconstruction.
The January 2007 Summit of the AU in Addis Ababa recalled that "the
maintenance of international peace and security is the primary responsibility
of the UNSC and called upon the UN to examine within the context of Chapter
VIII of the UN Charter, the possibility of funding through assessed
contributions, peacekeeping operations undertaken by AU or under its authority
and with the consent of the UN".
Minister Dlamini Zuma herself has committed South Africa to working within
the UNSC to "create synergies between the work of the AU Peace and Security
Council and the UNSC with a view to the prevention of outbreaks of violence and
conflict in the continent of Africa".
Minister Dlamini Zuma is expected to return to South Africa on Friday, 30
March 2007.
Contact:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
25 March 2007
