New York, October 07 (QNA) - The scale and complexity of the challenges facing Africa require a stronger partnership between the United Nations and the African Union, with greater emphasis on anticipating crises, addressing the underlying pressures that fuel them and translating shared commitment into prompt, predictable and accountable action, a senior UN official said.
The remarks came during a UN Security Council meeting on cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, including the African Union.
Reviewing key findings of the Secretary-General's latest report on the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the African Union, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, said that the report documents important progress while highlighting an increasingly interconnected and complex peace and security landscape.
He identified three priorities: the changing nature of conflicts, the structural factors driving regional instability, and the practical implementation of the UN-AU
partnership in peace support operations.
Despite these challenges, Onanga-Anyanga said he remained optimistic about Africa's future, pointing to the continent's young population and abundant natural as assets that, with bold leadership and a more supportive global environment, could help usher Africa into a new era of opportunity and strengthen its capacity to shape its own future.
He noted that several countries are experiencing increasingly intense and geographically expanding violence, accompanied by rising civilian casualties. He identified developments in the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes region and the Sahel as particularly urgent challenges requiring sustained attention.
For his part, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye, praised the frameworks and mechanisms established by UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in cooperation with the African Union.
He highlighted the declaration signed by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, and the UN Secretary-General during the tenth annual UN-AU Conference, held in Addis Ababa on May 13, 2026.
Adeoye said the declaration reaffirmed the principles underpinning the three common frameworks on peace and security, as well as the African Union's 2063 Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and human rights. (QNA)