Note to Correspondents: Joint Declaration of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary-General of the United Nations hereby:

Renew their continued commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two Organizations in an effort to promote peace and security, good governance, sustainable development, as well as human rights on the African continent, in accordance, respectively, with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the Joint United Nations - African Union Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security signed in New York on 19 April 2017 and the Joint Framework for Implementation of Africa's Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development signed in Addis Ababa on 27 January 2018;

Recognize the imperative for close cooperation and coordination, based on their respective comparative advantages and complementarity in peace and security, and burden-sharing on the basis of a collective responsibility to respond early, coherently and decisively to prevent, manage, and resolve violent conflict;

Welcome the adoption of the Declaration of Shared Commitments on UN Peacekeeping Operations by United Nations Member States and various intergovernmental organizations in September 2018, and in this regard, reiterate that African Union peace support operations (AU PSOs) are a vital tool in the international peace and security architecture, including in peace enforcement and counter-terrorism, for which the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs), and Member States have demonstrated a comparative advantage in leading response efforts on behalf of the international community;

Recall Security Council Resolution 2320 (2016) of 18 November 2016, in which the Security Council stressed the need to enhance the predictability, sustainability and flexibility of financing for African Union-led PSOs authorized by the Security Council and under the Security Council's authority consistent with Chapter VIII of the Charter, and Security Council Resolution 2378 (2017) of 20 September 2017, in which the Security Council expressed its intention to give further consideration to practical steps that can be taken, and the conditions necessary, to establish the mechanism through which African Union-led PSOs could be partly financed through United Nations assessed contributions on a case by case basis;

Further recall the 'Report of the African Union-United Nations Panel on Modalities for Support to African Union Peacekeeping Operations', presented to the Security Council and the General Assembly in Document A/63/666 - S/2008/813 of 31 December 2008, the 'Report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations on uniting our strengths for peace: politics, partnership and people', presented to the Security Council and the General Assembly in Document A/70/95 - S/2015/446 of 17 June 2015 ('Hippo Report'), the 'Report of the joint African Union-United Nations review of available mechanisms to finance and support African Union peace support operations authorized by the United Nations Security Council', presented to the Security Council and the General Assembly in Document A/71/410 - S/2016/809 of 28 September 2016, the Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on options for authorization and support for African Union PSOs S/2017/454 of 26 May 2017 (hereinafter, 'the Secretary-General's Report S/2017/454 to the Security Council'),

and the Report of the Chairperson of the Commission on the AU Peace Fund, 'Implementing an Enhanced Governance and Accountability Framework', as well as of the 'Report of the Chairperson of the Commission on the Relevant Provisions of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2320 (2016) on UN Assessed Contributions for AU mandated or authorised Peace Support Operations authorised by the UN Security Council' and the Communique of the African Union Peace and Security Council adopted at its 689th Meeting on 30 May 2017 PSC/PR/COMM. (DCLXXXIX), and emphasize the need of a vision for a stronger global-regional partnership for peace and security to ensure that the Security Council is able to call upon a more resilient and capable network of actors in response to future threats against peace and security in Africa;

Stress that the United Nations should embrace a future role of not only working alongside regional organizations but also enabling them to share the burden in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. In particular, the signatories are convinced, as stated in the Hippo Report, that the United Nations should deepen its strategic partnership with the African Union and, on a case-by-case basis, provide enabling...