Assembly/AU/8(XI)
Page 1
REPORT ON THE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF TEN (10) HEADS OF STATE
AND GOVERNMENT ON THE REFORM OF UNITED NATIONS
I.
INTRODUCTION
1.
The Committee of Ten (C10) Heads of State and Government met on 29 June
2008 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on the margins of the 11th Ordinary Session of the
Assembly of the African Union to exchange views on developments on the Reform of
the United Nations and to consider their draft progress Report.
II.
PARTICIPATION
2.
The meeting was chaired by H.E. Dr. Ernest BAI KOROMA, President of the
Republic of SIERRA LEONE. Other participants included the Heads of State of Zambia,
Namibia and Equatorial Guinea and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Senegal, Kenya,
Uganda, Algeria, Libya.
III.
OPENING REMARKS
3.
In his opening remarks, the President of the Republic of SIERRA LEONE,
Chairperson of the Committee of Ten (C10) highlighted the major issues relating to the
Security Council Reform, as contained in the Report of the C10 Permanent
Representatives in New York. He, among other things, emphasized the areas of general
agreement and divergence, the positions of various groups and the reaction of the
African Group to the recent Report of the President of the General Assembly (PGA) as
released on 9 June 2008.
4.
The Chair of the Committee stressed that the African Permanent Representatives
had expressed their opposition to the intermediary approach and to the proposal of
taking the reform process from the Open-Ended Working Group to the General
Assembly. He further stated that the African Permanent Representatives agreed to
elaborate an evolving negotiating strategy and to keep the Ezulwini Consensus and
Sirte Declaration, as the basis for the intergovernmental negotiations.
IV.
DELIBERATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.
The discussion were focused on the issue of maintaining a unified front, the
question of moving to the negotiating stage, the awareness of certain deviation,
particularly regarding the size of an expanded Security Council, and the positions of
various Groups which remain basically unchanged.