peacekeeping Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish

South Africa to assume rotating presidency of the African Union in 2020

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 22:00:00 +0000

South Africa will assume the rotating presidency of the African Union next year.

Leaders of the 55-nation continental grouping voted to pass this ceremonial role to South Africa when Egypt’s turn ends in 2020.

South Africa will be serving the second year of its rotating membership of the United Nations Security Council next year.

So having the presidency of the African Union will give South Africa a particularly significant international role.

The last time South Africa held the AU leadership was in 2002 when Thabo Mbeki was president.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who is expected to be South Africa’s president next year, is already being pushed to campaign for human rights – particularly in Africa – if and when he succeeds Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah El Sisi who is expected to emphasize security and peacekeeping during his AU presidency

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Leader look to the AU paying their own way

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 22:00:00 +0000

President Jacob Zuma is joined by at least 30 Heads of State and Government for the 27 African Union summit in Kigali.

As ever, security dominates the agenda. This year though the AU is examining reports on how the continental body can achieve real independence by paying its own way.

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Shaking off the shackles of aid dependency is vital for the AU if it wants to take full charge of its activities.

The Heads of State and Government today examine new proposals for resource mobilization to ensure that the bloc finances the bulk– if not all – of its budget.

The biggest challenge financing peacekeeping operations on the continent, which puts it at the mercy of the United Nations and Western donors whose financial support often comes far too late to have a meaningful impact on the ground.

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Obama to host peacekeeping summit at UN

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 22:00:00 +0000

President Barak Obama says he’ll host a summit at the United Nations later this this year to increase international involvement in peacekeeping operations.
Speaking at the African Union before heading home at the end of a two-nation safari, Obama says South Sudanese leaders must be sanctioned if they don’t sign a ceasefire by mid August.
President Barak Obama says good governance is the best way of beating terrorism and insurrection.
He runs through the list of African trouble spots, Somalia, Darfur, Central African Republic, Mali and South Sudan.
Africa’s newest country gets his particular attention.
He and regional leaders agreed that if President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar don’t reach and agreement within weeks the international community must raise the costs of intransigence – that’s diplomatic shorthand for apply sanctions.

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