US Issues Statement on the African Union Summit in Mauritania

Press Statement
Heather Nauert
Department of State Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 2, 2018

The United States commends the African Union (AU) on the 31st AU Summit, held in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The Summit reinforced important efforts to reform the AU, a process the United States supports and believes will ensure the AU is better positioned to solve regional issues in the coming years. As the Summit underscored, peace and security remain a priority. The United States applauds African efforts to take a more robust role in securing peace on the Continent.

The AU deploys peacekeepers into some of the world’s most dangerous environments. Adopting high performance standards is critical to the AU’s conflict resolution efforts and the safety of African peacekeepers and the populations they protect. We recognize fully implementing standards for financial transparency, conduct and discipline, and human rights will take time, and we look forward to continued collaboration in pursuit of these objectives. We will look to the AU’s implementation of these standards across its peace support operations before considering additional financial support through the UN.

The United States acknowledges that establishing sustainable funding mechanisms for AU stabilization operations is important to their success. As such, the United States recognizes the importance of increased AU self-financing efforts and contributions to the AU Peace Fund. The United States looks forward to welcoming AU High Representative for the AU Peace Fund Dr. Donald Kaberuka and AU Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui to the United States for a fruitful discussion on AU financing and reform.

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