New York, United States - The UN Security Council will hold an open debate on 12 January on strengthening strategic cooperation between the UN and regional organizations, according to
Ambassador Basso Sangqu of South Africa, who holds the rotating presidency of the council for the month of January. Sangqu told reporters here Wednesday that South Africa's President Jacob Zuma would chair the meeting.

He said the meeting was aimed at fostering closer ties to help deal with common issues such as conflict resolution and developmental issues.

'We must continue, even when we face setbacks sometimes, forging strong relationships so that we could encourage common vision, common objectives and common frameworks in dealing with the conflicts on the African continent,” he said.

The Ambassador also disclosed that some of the issues to be discussed include cooperation between the UN and the African Union (AU) in Somalia and the work of a joint team examining the implications of last year’s conflict in Libya for countries in the Sahel region of West Africa.

'You will have noted that the Secretary-General has issued his report on this and we are expecting that the African Union itself will be releasing its own reflections as to where this cooperation should be going.

'We are aiming to pass a resolution on this and we have put a draft resolution and I think it is well received by the membership of the Security Council,' the Ambassador said.

He also said regional organizations could play an important role in resolving conflicts, considering that neighbouring states are more directly affected whenever strife breaks out in a country.

'One of the things that we thought we could do is to build on the theme that we had been promoting as South Africa – that of a stronger relationship between the United Nations and regional organizations. We are convinced that the primary role of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security,' he said.

The South African envoy, however, added: 'In contemporary times, we believe that the role of regional organizations is even more important. They are closer to the ground, they are more affected by the conflicts from their sisterly neighbouring countries, they have got a lot to lose if these conflicts continue to rage.”

PANA learnt that this month, the Security Council is also scheduled to receive briefings, as well as hold debates, on a range of other subjects, including justice and the rule of law, the Middle East, Libya, the Darfur region of Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire.

Pana 05/01/2012