Africa

In 2010, the momentum for restoring durable peace and development in the conflict-torn regions of Africa was bolstered by concerted UN peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, notwithstanding the significant challenges faced. The United Nations increased its support of African peace efforts, particularly by helping develop Africa’s institutional capacities to address conflicts and manage peacekeeping operations. To enhance its own efforts to better provide such assistance to Africa, and strengthen its partnership with the African Union (au), the General Assembly, in June, established the United Nations Office to the African Union by integrating the mandates and functions of the four UN offices operating in Addis Ababa related to peace and security. In July, the Security Council held an open debate on “Optimizing the use of preventive diplomacy tools: prospects and challenges in Africa”. It also formalized its consultative meeting with the au Peace and Security Council to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations in conflict prevention and resolution and peacebuilding, and to find solutions to the challenge of financing au peace activities. The Council also sent missions to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (drc) as well as to Uganda and the Sudan to promote peace efforts in those countries. The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa took further steps to strengthen support for Africa’s security and development.

Related Subject(s): Nations Unies