Uganda has urged the African Union and United Nations to establish reliable financing arrangements and coordinated planning frameworks for peace operations, warning that budgetary delays and uncertain funding threaten the effectiveness of missions across the continent.
Uganda has called on the international community to establish predictable and sustainable financing arrangements for African-led peace operations, saying long-term security requires stronger cooperation between the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).
Ambassador Rebecca Amuge Otengo, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the AU, made the call during a high-level strategic review of AU and UN peace operations in New York, where she urged international partners to move beyond ad hoc security cooperation towards a structured system of financial burden-sharing.
Otengo said UN Security Council Resolution 2719, adopted in 2023, provides an important mechanism for establishing a predictable and sustainable partnership to support AU-led peace support operations.
She emphasised the need to institutionalise joint planning throughout the operational cycle, including joint crisis analysis, shared situational awareness and coordinated planning between the two institutions.
“Future operations must be guided by clear political strategies, with achievable objectives, measurable benchmarks, and realistic transition arrangements,” Otengo said.
She added that mission mandates should match available resources while allowing operations to adapt to changing security conditions.
The ambassador cited the experiences of African-led missions in Somalia, including the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and the newly established African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), as important lessons for implementing Resolution 2719.
She said the missions demonstrate the value of African-led security initiatives but also highlight the need for reliable financing and well-coordinated transition plans.
Otengo said effective peace operations require critical capabilities to be incorporated into planning from the outset, including strategic mobility, advanced logistics, aviation assets, rapid medical evacuation, intelligence and surveillance systems, reliable communications and adequate logistical support to sustain deployed forces.
She also warned that differences between AU and UN budget cycles, approval procedures a