African Union and UN agree to try to strengthen cooperation to promote peace

The leaders of the United Nations and the African Union today agreed to step up the joint peace efforts of the two organizations on some of the major conflicts and security issues across the continent.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping, in a meeting on the margins of the current 66th session of the General Assembly, focused their discussions on existing UN-AU cooperation and on recent developments in Africa, especially in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, according to information released by his spokesperson.

Since 2008 the two organizations have operated a joint peacekeeping force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur (UNAMID), while in Somalia, the UN backs an AU-force known as AMISOM.