Ambassador Dorothy Shea
Deputy Representative to the United Nations
New York, New York
December 27, 2024
AS DELIVERED
At the outset, the United States thanks all the troop- and police-contributing countries for their service and sacrifice to ATMIS and AMISOM, and we pay tribute to those who lost their lives in support of those missions. The fight against al-Shabaab and other terrorist elements in Somalia underscores the serious nature of our task here today.
And in this context, I welcome the participation of the representatives of Somalia and Ethiopia.
Our decision to abstain on this resolution is not one we took lightly. Despite our serious concerns, I want to underscore that the United States remains committed to supporting and strengthening African Union peace support operations.
Our commitment to Somalia extends over decades. The United States provides bilateral assistance to increase security, promote economic growth, and advance peace and stability, totaling over $1.2 billion dollars each year.
As the largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping globally, the United States has paid, since the inception of AU peace support operations in Somalia with AMISOM, one quarter of the annual budget of the UN Support and Stabilization Office in Somalia, providing critical, life-saving logistical support to AU troops and Somali security forces.
The United States is also proud to have supported the passage of Resolution 2719 last December, which broke new ground in providing a framework for this Council to authorize the use of UN assessed contributions to support AU peace support operations. The United States has long been a supporter and partner of the African Union and knows the valuable expertise the institution brings to managing conflicts on the continent.
We supported Resolution 2719 not simply as a source of funding, but as a means of strengthening the partnership between the African Union and the United Nations. U.S. support for 2719 came about because we listened to, and responded to, a long-standing position of our African partners.
But in our view, the conditions have not been met for immediate transition to application of 2719 in Somalia.
Further, when the Security Council passed Resolution 2719, Member States agreed that UN assessed contributions would fund no more than 75 percent of AU PSO annual budgets, with the remainder to be mobilized from the international community jointly by the AU and the UN.
It is clear the Council intended for 2719 to apply to logistical support and personnel under a “one mission, one budget” model. The resolution states that the UN assessed contributions will not exceed 75 percent of a mission’s annual budget and cited logistical support as included in that, in addition to personnel costs.
Despite this, the proposed “hybrid” model in today’s text implies that the UN would continue to fully fund UNSOS through UN assessed contributions, and that 2719 would apply solely to troop reimbursements. This arrangement would result in UN assessed contributions effectively funding more than 90 percent of the aggregate mission cost. This is clearly not what Resolution 2719 envisioned.
As we said at the time of 2719’s adoption, and have demonstrated since through our actions and diplomatic efforts, the United States stands ready to work with Security Council members and the African Union to determine how the remainder of the budget would be financed.
We cannot, however, vote in favor of a resolution that uses this new model without referencing the intent to transition to a consolidated budget, as was the case in Resolution 2719, and in keeping with the standard and best practices in peacekeeping.
And for the record: We would not support a subvention, or any other mechanism, as another workaround to the intent of a resolution adopted by this Council in order to access additional assessed contributions.
In our view, such an approach, however expedient in the short-term, would run the risk of undermining the credibility of this new model over the long term.
Colleagues, the United States will remain a steadfast proponent of the African Union’s peace support operations, and our partner Somalia. We will do all in our power to support and strengthen Resolution 2719, as agreed by the Council, as a tool, including by assessing the AU and UN’s progress against benchmarks outlined in the AU-UN Joint Roadmap.
We will support both institutions as they work to set up this tool for success, and, most importantly, support Somalia in its effort to combat threats to its security and stability.
Thank you.
Source: By United States Mission to the United Nations
