Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
russiaun.ru

We would first like to express our sincere gratitude to you personally, Mr. President, and to your team, for the capable leadership and full programme of work you brought to the Security Council this month.

A considerable amount of time has been allotted in May to African issues and to discussing ways of arriving at collaborative solutions to the crises on that continent. As we have said in the Security Council more than once, for us one of the key principles in that context is finding African solutions to African problems. In that regard, we truly appreciate the efforts of the Egyptian and Angolan delegations in convening, on 23 May, the scheduled consultative meeting between the Council and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, and we commend the importance and timeliness of the holding of an informal segment of the meeting for the first time. It enabled us to conduct a frank and constructive analysis of the current condition of and prospects for cooperation between the two Councils, as well as between the United Nations and the

African Union in general, in the maintenance of peace and security. We also discussed country-specific topics of interest.

It was not an easy discussion, but we value the fact that there was no attempt to conceal the existence of various problems in the relationship between the two Councils and that suggestions were made for concrete ways to overcome them. In particular, we acknowledged the importance of ensuring that our consultative meetings are more effective, including improving the effectiveness of our mechanisms for implementing decisions. One especially interesting discussion was on the possibility of organizing joint missions of the two Councils in the field.

The consultative meeting was organically complemented by the holding the next day of an open debate on the issue of cooperation on security between the United Nations and the African Union (S/PV.7694), in which about 50 delegations took part, and at which we adopted presidential statement S/PRST/2016/8 on the subject. In our view, such activities have become a major milestone in our efforts to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two organizations, as well as between the Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, on the basis of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations and a foundation of genuine mutual respect. This assumes the Security Council’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and the complementarity between the work of the United

Nations and regional organizations, in which each can capitalize on its relative advantages. Your commitment to the quest for solutions for Africa, Mr. President, was also apparent in full measure in your organization of the Security Council’s mission to Kenya and Somalia. We are grateful to Cairo for the hospitality shown to the members of the Council in the Egyptian capital and at the headquarters of the League of Arab States. During that visit, the members of the Council met with the high political representation of Somalia, Kenya and Egypt, received first-hand information on the situation in those countries and in the region as a whole and exchanged views and assessments of many issues on the international agenda. All of the meetings took place in a businesslike and constructive manner and were very well organized.

I would like to say a few words about the situation in Somalia and the challenges that country is facing. We welcome the adoption of the election model, which is aimed a ensuring national reconciliation and uniting the country. The Council members’ visit to Mogadishu and the negotiations that took place there served to encourage the Head of State to approve the election model.

However, with regard to establishing a political process in Somalia, we need to be cautious. We must not be hasty in advancing dubious models that could lead to a division of the country. In that context, we should continue to strengthen the unity of Somalia and help to establish an effective Government, army and security force as well as economic reconstruction, in addition to effective ways of combating terrorism.

The visit also demonstrated that Somalia has some promising prospects, but the terrorist problem remains very serious. Thanks to a coordinated, successful operation by African peacekeepers, Al-Shabaab has been contained. However, the terrorists continue to control a significant part of the territory and key roads. Clearly, terrorist groups are receiving external assistance from many sources — material, technical, military and man-power. Foreign terrorist fighters are flocking to the country. That support is being provided at a faster rate than support is being provided to the central authorities and the Somali army and police. Today the only effective mechanism in addressing the terrorism challenge to the country is the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose mandate was unanimously extended by resolution 2289 (2016) until 8 July. We should take account also of the fact that African peacekeepers must deal with broader problems than provided for in their mandates, and with a risk to their own lives. In that connection, we need vigorously to address the issues of AMISOM’s capacity. We call for further enhancement by the international community of its support to the Mission in military, financial and logistical terms.The efforts by the international community to resolve the problems in Somalia are a clear example of practical cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union in ensuring peace and security. For that reason, we consider the the Egyptian leadership of the Security Council mission to the country and the conceptual dialogue between the two organizations to have been were very well organized and results-oriented. We are confident that the Council’s work should be built on such approaches.