Support to African peace support operations

Since its establishment, many of the peace support operations (PSOs) established by the African Union have received support—whether financial, logistical or both—from the United Nations. The Security Council can authorize regional arrangements such as the African Union to take action to deal with matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security under Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, though it has also—as in the case of AMISOM—authorized African Union PSOs to take action under Chapter VII.

The United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) in Addis Ababa is the primary liaison between the United Nations and the African Union on questions of peace and security. At Headquarters, the two main organizational units involved in support to PSOs are the African Union Partnership Team in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa (political and substantive issues) and the Support Partnerships Service within the Department of Operational Support (mission support issues).

African Union peace support operations
African Union PSOs are mandated by the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), and responsibility for resource mobilization, accountability, oversight and management rests with the African Union Commission. All African Union PSOs, past and present, are listed below. Current missions are denoted in bold.

In addition, a number of missions have been authorized by the AUPSC but are not managed by the African Union Commission.

Relevant Security Council decisions
The Security Council has taken a number of decisions regarding United Nations support to African Union PSOs, including the following:

Key documents

 * S/2008/186 Report of the Secretary-General on the relationship between the UN and regional organizations, in particular the AU, in the maintenance of international peace and security
 * A/63/666–S/2008/813 Report of the AU-UN panel on modalities for support to AU peacekeeping operations (Prodi Report)
 * A/64/359–S/2009/470 Support to AU peacekeeping operations authorized by the UN: Report of the Secretary-General
 * A/71/410–S/2016/809 Report of the joint AU-UN review of available mechanisms to finance and support AU peace support operations authorized by the UN Security Council
 * S/2017/454 Options for authorization and support for AU peace support operations: Report of the Secretary-General
 * S/2020/1020 Letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council on the independent assessment of  United Nations-African Union cooperation and the structure and capacity of the United Nations Office to the African Union

For the list of annual reports on strengthening the partnership between the UN and the AU on issues of peace and security in Africa, including on the work of the United Nations Office to the African Union, please see the article on UNOAU.

Options for support to specific PSOs
Reports in which the Secretary-General proposed options to support specific African Union PSOs are provided below and should be read in conjunction with the above Security Council decisions.


 * AMISOM
 * S/2008/804 Somalia: next steps for the military/peacekeeping track (see paragraphs 7 and 8)
 * S/2009/60 Details of support to be provided to the African Union Mission in Somalia
 * S/2011/591 Letter dated 21 September 2011 from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council
 * S/2012/74 Special report of the Secretary-General on Somalia (see section V on support implications; proposed reimbursement for contingent-owned equipment)
 * S/2015/762 Letter dated 7 October 2015 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council (paragraph 38 proposes reimbursement for self-sustainment)


 * G5 Sahel Joint Force
 * S/2017/869 Report on the G5 Sahel Joint Force (see section V on options for United Nations support)
 * S/2020/476 Situation in Mali (see section IV on the implementation of paragraph 13 of resolution 2391)

Lessons learned

 * S/2015/3 Lessons-learned on the transitions from AU peace operations to UN peacekeeping operations in Mali and in the Central African Republic
 * S/2021/1099 Summary report on lessons learned from the experience of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur