Statement by H.E. Carolyn Rodrigues- Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana, at UNSC Open Debate on “Maintenance of international peace & security: Strengthening the role of the African state in addressing global security & development challenges"

Mr. President,

Guyana commends Mozambique for convening this open debate on a topic of special importance for the maintenance of international peace and security. 

We thank Secretary-General Guterres and African Union Commissioner Bankole Adeoye for their insightful briefings. Our thanks also to the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Sergio França Danese for the insights provided.

 Given the number of African files on the Council’s agenda, Guyana sees great value in our collective deliberation on how to strengthen the role of the African state to address global security and development challenges. We are of the view that constant and structured dialogue with these countries, as with all other countries on the Council’s agenda, should be the bedrock of our efforts for promoting strong responses to peace and security, and development challenges.

On this latter note, Mr. President, allow me to emphasize Guyana’s conviction that peace and security issues cannot be divorced from development issues. In fact, a common feature across many of the African issues of which the Council is seized is poverty and underdevelopment and their concomitant challenges. The Council must therefore take a holistic approach to peace and security matters in Africa, incorporating a development dimension. In fact, having examined the African Union’s Agenda 2063, Guyana has taken good note that a prosperous Africa is equally a peaceful and secure Africa.

Guyana also underscores in this context the importance of addressing the historical injustice against Africa in its exclusion from permanent membership of this Council. Correcting this wrong is also critical to the full involvement of Africa in the global peace and security regime.

With the foregoing in mind I proffer four points for reflection on the theme of today’s debate.

First, the Council must continue to work closely with the regional institutions to promote peace and stability in the region, including on initiatives geared towards addressing the root causes of conflicts in Africa. In this regard, Guyana underscores the centrality of the African Union Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and its pillars. APSA’s Continental Early Warning System, for example, is an extremely useful mechanism in the context of conflict prevention, peace, security and stability in Africa, and this could potentially be one area for closer collaboration between the Council and the AU. This collaboration could explore both a strengthening of the mechanism to increase its effectiveness, and cooperation with the Council to capitalize on the utility of the system for the Council’s work. Also in the context of closer collaboration with regional institutions, Guyana highlights resolution 2719(2023) as an important tool to take forward this collaboration.

Second, in the Council’s engagement with African countries, including through peacekeeping or special political missions, priority must continue to be given to strengthening governance. Good governance is critical to stable societies and is the best framework in which to tackle conflict. I hasten to underscore that while supporting the strengthening of governance, the Council must adhere to the principle of African solutions for African problems. This principle itself can only be as potent as the capacity of states in the region to confront the challenges to their stability and security, and the Council must be a key partner in this respect – not proscribing one size solutions but genuinely collaborating with states in their efforts to develop strong, sustainable governance models, including through drawing on the good examples of other African states.

My third point concerns combatting interference by external actors. Mr. President, we see a familiar storyline across several conflicts in Africa where actors with commercial and other interests in several African countries in conflict situations manipulate those conflicts with the sole aim of preserving those interests. The Council must take a firm stance against this phenomenon which in itself can be thought of as a new form of colonialism. Further, it can jeopardize efforts at promoting African-owned and led solutions.

Fourth and final, Mr. President, Guyana stresses the importance of supporting Africa to increase its economic prospects and, ultimately, its stability. Africa is a rich continent with 65% of the world’s most arable land, 30% of the world’s mineral reserves and 45% of the world’s technical potential of renewable energy. It also has the world’s largest youth population – 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population are under age 30.  However, while several African countries are making good progress, in most cases this wealth is not reaching the ordinary man and woman. The result is poverty and underdevelopment in several instances. An international financial architecture that is skewed against developing countries only compounds this situation. As Guyana continues to advocate for global reform, we also underscore the importance of encouraging and supporting national efforts to increase productivity. The work of regional mechanisms such as  the AU development Agency-NEPAD is especially critical with the focus given to food and nutrition, energy, water, infrastructure and natural resource governance, among other areas. The Council must keep the issue of productivity in focus as it engages the region on peace and security issues.

I conclude by expressing Guyana’s full support to the region as it works to bring development, peace and stability to every African citizen, always conscious that there can be no peace without sustainable development and no sustainable development without peace.

I thank you.