The Security Council met yesterday March 18th 2009 to consider the Panel’s report.
The report was introduced by the SG
He was followed by the Chairman who summarised the main points of the report
(see: Presentation of the Prodi report).
The meeting itself went well and there was general consensus on the need to enhance the strategic relationship – the only slightly dissenting view was from France who warned against institutionalising any mechanism that in any way eroded the decision making responsibility of the Security. There were some helpful comments on the need to support the 10 Year Capacity Building Plan (China) and in support of the ongoing work of capacity building partners generally.
Reactions to the financial proposals were fairly predictable. The trust fund recommendation attracted several comments on the need to ensure that any new fund was coordinated with existing arrangements, especially the EU’s APF but it was always going to be the use of assessed contributions that was likely to receive the most interest. Views ranged from those in the Africa Group, expressed by Uganda, who saw operations undertaken by ROs under Chapter VIII as being an essential element of the framework of collective security and that they should be funded as such, to those, such as Russia who made the point that any plan to use assessed contributions could only be viable after much more detailed analysis, to those who did not see their use as appropriate. France spoke most strongly against the use of assessed on the basis that the financial and operational decision making processes could not be de-linked. Japan pointed out that Article 17 of the Charter related only to the use of funding to support the UN, not others. The US made no comment on assessed funding.
The meeting concluded with the issue of a PRST
(see: Statement by the President of the Security Council).
This requested the Secretary General to submit a report on “practical ways to provide effective support for the African Union” by 18 September 2009.
Clearly we will be working with the AU to follow up on the recommendations and see some of the political ones offering a chance for early progress.
The financial recommendations will be more complex and will need significant work from DFS and others – they will also take longer to pull together.
In addition to the Council, the Chairman also briefed the Special Committee on Peacekeeping
