Ethiopia started its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council on 1st January 2017. It ends on 31st December 2018 and South Africa will join the Security Council to represent Africa alongside Cote D’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea.
In these two years, the world has faced unprecedented peace and security problems and the multilateral international system has been under enormous pressure in many respects. Indeed, in terms of threats to international peace and security, the Council has witnessed tensions not seen since the end of the Cold War. Before it joined the Security Council, Ethiopia emphasized its understanding that the United Nations alone could no longer handle the peace and security challenges the world is facing. In the spirit of chapter VII of the UN Charter, it strongly advocated for greater strategic coherence between regional mechanisms and the United Nations in addressing these challenges. Ethiopia also strongly believed in the relevance and vital importance of multilateralism and of the need for it to be reinforced. This, it underlined, was also in Ethiopia’s national interest. Equally, preventive diplomacy should be strongly encouraged in line with the closer coordination being forged between regional organizations such as the AU and the UN. The strengthening of the role of UN Peacekeeping operations was another area to which Ethiopia has given priority throughout its work in the Security Council.
In line with these aims and hopes, Ethiopia has tried to be a strong voice for Africa, reflecting the common position of Africa in various matters of peace and security that have arisen across the continent during this period, and with some success. In recognition of the valuable and useful role Ethiopia has been able to achieve, the AU Peace and Security Council at its 814th meeting, held on 5 December 2018, said: “Council commended the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for the important and exemplary role it played during its tenure, championing, promoting and defending the African common positions and concerns within the UN Security Council decision -making process.”
Ethiopia’s two-year tenure in the Security Council witnessed major conflicts that had and still have far-reaching consequences in the global peace and security environment and architecture. The Council was forced to involve itself very closely to prevent conflicts before they spread or try to resolve them through various means as well as in efforts to sustain peace and peacebuilding endeavours in the aftermath of conflict. In 2017, the Security Council held 296 meetings, adopted 61 resolutions and issued 27 presidential statements. It considered 52 agenda items, dispatched five missions to the field, three to Africa and two to the Americas, and established a new sanctions regime in connection with the situation in Mali. In 2018, up until mid-December, the Council held 264 meetings and adopted 48 resolutions. It made one major field visit to Africa in 2018, to the Democratic Republic of Congo. All these meetings required Ethiopia’s close engagement at various levels and its official positions were reflected through prepared remarks as well as in contributions made in the conduct of negotiations and other activities.
The Council sent its first mission in 2017 to the countries of the Lake Chad basin region, namely Cameroon, Chad, the Niger and Nigeria. During the second mission, in September 2017, the Council visited Ethiopia for the 11th annual joint consultative meeting between the members of the United Nations Security Council and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union at the Headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa. At that meeting, there was discussion on the situations in Somalia, South Sudan and the Lake Chad basin. This mission was the first stand-alone visit by the members of the Security Council to the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa. It was significant in terms of strengthening the partnership and enhancing cooperation between the two Councils. The third mission was to the Sahel region and comprised visits to Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, in October, to assess the operationalization of the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel. The Council saw evidence of great determination among regional actors in the Sahel to overcome security challenges through deployment of the regional force. Ethiopia co-led the mission with France and Italy.
Over the past two years. Ethiopia has considered it an obligation to defend the positions of Africa and the African Union on matters of peace and security on the continent, on the basis of the decisions taken by the African Union, the AU Peace and Security Council and the continent’s regional mechanisms. It made sure it had a close working environment with other African representatives in the Council, activating the A-3 mechanism (there are three non-permanent African representatives on the Council) and establishing good working relations. As a result, the A-3 have been able to speak with one voice on a number of occasions, to jointly table draft resolutions and coordinate as much as practically possible, aligning their positions on a range of issues. We would also note Ethiopia took the lead, partnering with Sweden in facilitating the adoption of resolution 2439 (2018) on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
