China calls for strengthened UN-AU cooperation

UNITED NATIONS -- China's top envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday called on the world organization to engage in comprehensive cooperation with the African Union (AU) to better address threats to peace and security in Africa.

Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting that strengthened cooperation with the AU is needed for the promotion of multilateralism and for the development of an international collective security mechanism.

The envoy noted that nearly 70 percent of the UN Security Council agenda is related to Africa, and two-thirds of the UN peacekeeping operations are deployed in Africa.

"As the largest and most representative regional organization of Africa, the African Union plays an increasingly important role in regional peace and security affairs," he said.

On peacekeeping, Liu said the United Nations should respect the will of Africa and actively support the AU's peacekeeping efforts.

The United Nations should engage in comprehensive cooperation with the AU in security and development, and in different stages of confidence-building, conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and sustainable development, said Liu.

He asked the United Nations to help the AU build its peacekeeping capacity.

The United Nations should mobilize more resources to support Africa with early warning systems, peacekeeping deployment, good offices, mediation and effectively enhance AU's peacekeeping capacity through personnel training, logistical support, information sharing and exchange of experience.

China has been a constructive participant in peace and security affairs of Africa, having deployed a cumulative of near 2,000 peacekeepers in seven peacekeeping operations in Africa.

China would like to increase the number of peacekeepers in the UN mission in South Sudan and has provided the AU mission in Somalia with many batches of assistance, said Liu.

China will continue to work with other countries to carry forward peacekeeping cooperation between the United Nations and the AU, Liu said.