The Trump administration has expressed conditional support for using United Nations financing to support African Union-led peace operations, while making clear that Washington wants future missions to remain limited in size, duration and scope.
Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos outlined the position during an October 6 Security Council briefing on cooperation between the United Nations and African Union.
He specifically referenced UN Security Council Resolution 2719, which establishes a framework for UN financing of Security Council-authorized African Union-led peace support operations.
Bartos described the framework as a potentially useful tool for addressing conflict in Africa.
"The deployment of a peace operation under UNSCR 2719 will strengthen the AU-UN partnership and leverage the AU’s comparative advantages to addressing conflict in Africa," he said.
But the ambassador attached clear conditions to Washington's support.
"Any such peace operation should be small, time bound, and have clear objectives," Bartos said.
He added that the United States would continue evaluating potential applications of the resolution individually.
The position suggests that Washington is open to supporting African-led peace operations without committing itself to unrestricted or open-ended missions.
Resolution 2719 provides a financing framework, but it does not mean that every proposed African Union operation automatically receives UN funding.
Specific deployments would still require relevant decisions and authorizations.
The administration's emphasis on limited mandates reflects a preference for narrowly defined operations rather than missions without a clear endpoint.
Bartos did not announce funding for a new operation or identify a particular country where the United States had agreed to apply the resolution.
For African governments seeking stronger international support for peace operations, Washington's message offers a possible route to cooperation, but with significant conditions attached.
