SA to enhance UN, AU ties
Michael Appel
25 January 2008South Africa is to make use of its second term as president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) - of which it is a non-permanent member - to enhance relations between the UN and the African Union (AU), especially on regional security.
"We had the presidency of the Security Council in March 2007, and we will have the presidency again in April 2008," Foreign Affairs chief director for UN political affairs, Xolisa Mabhongo, said on Thursday. "We will be looking into what we can do to enhance the relationship between the UN and other regional organisations, in particular the African Union."
Mabhongo said that South Africa - as part of its 2007 presidency - had called on the UN secretary-general to produce a report that would come up with concrete proposals on how the relationship between the UN and the AU could be enhanced.
The report, he said, was currently being finalised, and South Africa's second stint with the presidency of the powerful body provided a good opportunity to get UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to consider some of those recommendations and take action.
Another issue relevant to South Africa's presidency in April is to see whether the UNSC can once again meet with the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) as it did in Ethiopia in 2007.
"One of the decisions taken in Ethiopia was that there would be an annual joint meeting by the UNSC and the PSC in either New York or Addis Ababa," Mabhongo said. "It is our intention to see whether it is possible to bring these two councils together again in a common meeting as the agendas of the organisations overlap."
South Africa's notable achievements within the UNSC for 2007 include a co-led Security Council mission with the United Kingdom to Ghana; facilitating the adoption of a presidential statement on the role of women in peace and security; as well as getting the Council to adopt a proactive policy on small arms.
Counter-terrorism assessment
Mabhongo pointed out that the UNSC counter-terrorism executive directorate would send a delegation on a visit to South Africa this year.
"What they basically going to do is bring a multi-disciplinary team of officials to assess South Africa's capacities and compliance with Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions," he said. "[They will investigate] whether we have systems and policies in place that are adequate in the fight against terrorism."
With South Africa set to host one of the world’s largest sporting events - the 2010 Fifa World Cup - in two year’s time, the review by the counter-terrorism directorate would be of great importance to South Africa.
As the review carried with it certain "reputation risks" for countries that received a bad review, Mabhongo said it was of the utmost importance that South Africa prepared well for it and has the correct systems in place.
Some of the other countries that have undergone a review by the UNSC counter-terrorism executive directorate include Nigeria, India and Indonesia.
Source: BuaNews
