Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they are working to help to reach an agreement on a UN Security Council resolution on the use of UN assessed contributions to co-finance African Union peace support operations.

The UK welcomes the efforts of the African Union to prevent, mediate and settle conflicts in Africa and supports the principle of the AU accessing UN assessed contributions for future AU-led peace support operations on a case-by-case basis, subject to the conditions previously agreed in UNSCR 2320 (2016). Proposals for a UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) on the use of UN assessed contributions to co-finance African Union (AU) led peace support operations have been under discussion for several years. A text was most recently proposed by South Africa, on behalf of the three African members of the Security Council, in October 2019. This was then withdrawn pending further discussion between AU members, including at the AU Summit on 9-10 February 2020.We await further clarification from the AU on how the AU would part-fund such an initiative before the matter can be brought back to the UNSC.