Sudan PM Hamdok co-chairs UN Replenishment Conference

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok is today co-chairing a high-level Replenishment Conference called by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres “to mobilise critical support for conflict prevention and peacebuilding”.

The online video conference, currently being streamed live via UN Web TV is to discuss the $1.5 billion requirements of the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)* for the period 2020-24, to replenish the PBF and mobilise critical support from member states to fund conflict prevention, resolution, and peace building efforts in more than 40 countries.

“Global conflict trends and the expected number of United Nations transitions will require the Peacebuilding Fund’s critical support. The Fund’s new strategy will require unprecedented commitment from Member States, making my request for a quantum leap of support more pressing than ever,” Secretary-General António Guterres asserts.

PM Hamdok and delegates address the congerence (UN Web TV)

The conference takes place at a time of rising tensions and divisions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic increases risks but also creates opportunities for peace as the Secretary-General highlighted in his call for a global ceasefire. “It is a time for the international community to renew commitments to global cooperation and multilateralism and invest in conflict prevention and sustaining peace. Focusing on crisis response alone is unsustainable.”

The conference, which is still ongoing at time of posting this report, is also co-chaired by the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Madaa Bio, German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, and the Canadian Foreign Minister, Marc Gameau.

Liberian Peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, who leads Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, addressed today’s conference as a featured speaker, highlighting the contribution of women to peace in war-torn countries.

* The UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), founded in 2005, is the organisation’s financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict. The PBF may invest with UN entities, governments, regional organisations, multilateral banks, national multi-donor trust funds or civil society organisations. From 2006 to 2017, the PBF has allocated $772 million to 41 recipient countries. Since inception, 58 member states contributed to the Fund, 33 in the present 2017-2019 Investment Plan. The Fund works across pillars and supports integrated UN responses to fill critical gaps; respond quickly and with flexibility to peacebuilding opportunities; and catalyse processes and resources in a risk-tolerant fashion. (Source: UN)

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